At this year's REX/PSI User Meeting (REX = Computer-Aided Extruder Design, PSI = Paderborn Injection Molding Simulation), numerous representatives from industry and academia came together, including company representatives from Arburg GmbH & Co. KG, BASF SE, Battenfeld-Cincinnati Germany GmbH, BB Engineering GmbH, Breyer GmbH Maschinenfabrik, Brückner Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG, Covestro Deutschland AG, ETA Kunststofftechnologie GmbH, IANUS Simulation GmbH, Lindauer Dornier GmbH, Next Generation Recyclingmaschinen GmbH, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery GmbH, Windmöller & Hölscher KG, Wittmann Battenfeld GmbH & Co. KG, and Yizumi Germany GmbH. As in the previous year, the meeting was held in a hybrid format.
The foundation for the development of the REX simulation software was laid by Prof. em. Dr.-Ing. Helmut Potente over 30 years ago. Since 2007, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Volker Schöppner has been responsible for further development.
At this year's user meeting, the latest versions of the simulation programs for single-screw machines, REX 18.0 and PSI 16.0, were presented. With the help of these software programs, the theoretical assessment of machine behavior and thus an optimization of cylinder and screw configuration as well as process parameters are realized without elaborate experimental investigations, both for single-screw extrusion and for the plasticizing units of injection molding machines. Analytical equations are largely used, enabling short simulation times of under one minute. The project entered its 18th project phase in September 2023, in which the software is to be improved in terms of calculation scope, user-friendliness, and result presentation through numerous projects.
The following presentations were given:
- Thermal and compositional mixing effects of Cross Hole Mixing Sections (Jan Landgräber)
- New features in PAM (Felix Hanselle)
- Implementation of a melt quality prediction model (Dorte Trienens)
- Improvements in melting modeling (Felix Knaup)
- Model improvements (Christoph Schall)
- Current Software Development (Nils Kretzschmar)
- Expansion of the 3D CFD simulations to include additional shearing parts (Marius Dörner)
