9509754 Ill. Inst. / Tech. ABSTRACT When polymers are heated during flow, the distortion of the molecular chains by the shearing forces in the flow cause changes in the properties of the thermal properties of the polymer. For example, the thermal conductivity in a direction normal to the wall will be different than along the wall. The proposal is to carry out combined experimental and numerical modeling investigations of coupled heat and mass transfer in the flows of polymers, taking into consideration the effect of shear flows on the properties. Applications are to prediction of thermal effects during polymer processing, with the goal of allowing better design of polymer processing equipment..
