Analysis of the non-isothermal Newtonian model in the blown film process

Abstract

Film blowing is an industrial process used to produce thin sheets of polymer with a wide range of applications; for example, plastic bags. We apply analytic and numerical techniques to model this process in the simplest case where the blown material is a Newtonian fluid operating under non-isothermal conditions. In particular, we obtain the thermal profile along the film, and the effects of this thermal variation on the film bubble radius.