Rheology and Plastic Flow

This chapter covers rheology and plastic flow of plastic materials. Rheology is defined as the flow of plastic materials in a die, barrel, screw, or other device used in injection molding, extrusion, compression molding, or other plastic processes. The main topics examined are shear flow in plastics, viscosity, shear rate, viscoelasticity, fountain flow, extension flow, and non-Newtonian polymers. Methods for measuring the important flow-related properties are also covered.