Isothermal transient startup of a starved flow modular co-rotating twin screw extruder

A model for flow start-up of a Newtonian liquid in an initially empty modul ar self-wiping co-rotating twin screw extruder is developed. The changes of length of fill in front of the die and kneading disc block elements and ou tput now rate with time were predicted for various modular screw configurat ions. Experiments were also carried out on a laboratory modular machine wit h windows to verify predictions. Generally, good agreement with the flow an alysis was found.