Experimental Analysis of Viscoelastic Fluid Stirred by Single Rotor

Due to the non-Newtonian and viscoelastic properties of molten rubber, it is not easy to numerically analyze the heat and mass transfer in the rubber mixing process. Therefore, the flow field and temperature distribution in the mixing process using a single rotor and model fluid were analyzed by Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Laser Induced Fluoresce (LIF), respectively. The obtained results showed that the temperature distribution was dominated by the flow field because the Peclet number of this system was much larger than 1. Furthermore, a characteristic recovery flow due to the viscoelasticity of the model fluid was observed on the trailing edge side of the rotor blade.