MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF STRAIN OF DROPLETS
OF A DISPERSED-PHASE POLYMER IN FLOW OF 
MOLTEN POLYMER BLENDS

V. G. Rezanova,a Yu. V. Pridatchenko, b
and M. V. Tsebrenkoa

UDC 677.494

A mathematical model of strain of a dispersed-phase-polymer 
droplet in flow of a molten polymer blend from a wide reservoir to 
a narrow one has been created with the use of the structural-continuum 
approach. The system of differential equations obtained has numerically 
been solved by the Runge-Kutta method. The model satisfactorily 
describes the actual processes of flow of molten polymer blends in 
the entrance zone of a molding orifice: the values of the droplet 
strains are a function of the relation of the viscosities of the starting 
components and their absolute values, the volume concentration of 
the dispersed phase, the interphase tension, and the elasticity of 
the droplet. The adequacy of the model created has been confirmed 
by comparison of the droplet strains calculated using the equations 
obtained and the theoretical conclusions and experimental results.

a Kiev National University of Technologies 
and Design, 2, Nemirovich-Danchenko Str., Kiev, 01011, Ukraine; email: 
mfibres@i.com.ua; b Taras Shevchenko National 
University, Kiev, Ukraine. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii 
Zhurnal, Vol. 78, No. 5, pp. 134-140, September-October, 2005. 
Original article submitted October 29, 2004.