Heat and mass transfer of a molten polymer conveying nanoparticles in a wire coating process with temperature-dependent fluid properties: Optimization using Response surface method.

Heat and mass transfer rates play a significant role in achieving a high-efficiency, low-cost wire coating process. Therefore, the flow analysis of molten polymer (polyvinyl chloride) carrying nanoparticles inside a pressure-type die is presented. The third-grade liquid model is used for the constitutive equation of the polyvinyl chloride (PVC), while the non-homogeneous biphasic model is used for nanoparticles. The properties of PVC are temperature-dependent. The melt flow is governed by the modified Navier-Stokes equation for the third-grade fluid, energy conservation, and nanoparticles' continuity equation. The finite difference method-based routine is applied to solve the nonlinear differential equations that include nine physical parameters. The Response Surface Method (RSM) is implemented to optimize the heat/mass transfer rate coated wire's eminence depends on the coating material's rheological characteristics of PVC. Full quadratic correlation models for heat/mass transfer rate of melt are proposed through central-composite-design (CCD). The optimal level of third-grade fluid factor and nanofluid factors was determined to achieve an optimum heat/mass transfer rate of the melt. The rheological characteristics of PVC have been improved due to the temperature-dependent viscosity and shear thickening/thinning property of the melt. The nanofluid factors improve the thermal field and subsequently reduce the Nusselt number. Maximum heat transfer occurs for a low level of Brownian factor, a high level of thermophoresis factor, and a third-grade fluid factor of 0.2177, also reaching the maximum mass transfer simultaneously. • Flow analysis of polyvinyl chloride carrying nanoparticles inside a die is proposed. • Heat and mass transfer rates are optimized using the response surface method. • The temperature-dependent properties of polyvinyl chloride are examined. • Heat transport rate is enhanced in the melt flow in a die due to nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]