The impact of the slit die geometry and the polymer melt flow characteristics on the extrudate swell behavior, which is a key extrusion operating parameter, is highlighted. Three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations based on the finite element method are compared with their conventional two-dimensional (2D) counterparts at the same apparent shear rates using ANSYS Polyflow software. The rheological behavior is described by the differential multimode Phan-Thien-Tanner constitutive model, with polypropylene as a reference. It is shown that increasing the aspect ratio of the die geometry (width/height ratio variation from 1 to 20) contributes to a significant change in the 3D extrudate deformation (relative changes of 10% in several directions; absolute changes up to 30%) and delays the equilibrium axial position (up to a factor 10). High aspect ratios induce a switch to contract flow (swell ratio <1) for the edge height swell. The 3D extrudate swell strongly deviates from the 2D simplified case due to the die effect near the wall, even for higher aspect ratios. Also a different relation with the material parameters is recorded. The initially large swell behavior is followed by a small shrinkage flow in the middle height direction which cannot be captured by the 2D counterpart. The findings are supported by a comprehensive analysis of the velocity and stress fields in and out of the slit dies.

The effects of apparent wall slip on rheometric measurements of waxy gels are quantified for gels consisting of a macrocrystalline wax added in mineral oil in concentrations of 3.0 and 7.5 wt. %. The waxy gels are formed in situ in a stress-controlled rheometer, and rheological properties are then obtained. Seven different geometry configurations, including parallel plates, concentric cylinders, and vane, are employed. The surface roughness of the different geometries and wax crystals size are assessed to provide insight into the apparent wall slip phenomenon. In the presence of smooth surfaces, a decrease in approximately 80% in the measured yield stress value is observed in oscillatory tests, regardless of system composition. In addition, the storage modulus measurements are substantially different when obtained from smooth or grooved geometries. In creep experiments, the yield stress measurements decrease by 68%. As expected, apparent wall slip markedly affects the shape of the flow curves obtained, causing the appearance of kinks for smooth Couette geometry. Apparent slip velocities are calculated in the regime just above the yield stress, and it is found that for low concentrations apparent slip increases with concentration and decreases with the ratio between the shear stress and dynamic yield stress. The gathered results also demonstrate that the reproducibility of rheological measurements is improved by using geometries with grooved parts. By quantifying the effects of apparent wall slip on rheological measurements of waxy gels for different geometries, this work can provide useful information for the design of pipelines and oil transportation processes.