The grafting of maleic anhydride on high density polyethylene in an extruder

Abstract The grafting of maleic anhydride (MAH) on high density polyethylene in a counter‐rotating twin screw extruder has been studied. As the reaction kinetics appear to be affected by mass transfer, good micro mixing in the extruder is important. Due to the competing mechanisms of increasing mixing and decreasing residence times at increasing screw speed, and due to the complicated reaction scheme, various non‐linearities exist that are prohibitive for simple optimization rules. The interaction diagram presented in this paper for a twin screw extruder as a MAH grafting reactor can be used for better understanding of the influence of the extruder parameters on the reaction process.