AbstractThe flow of Newtonian fluids in a tangential counter‐rotating twin screw extruder with matched and staggered screw flights is analyzed using hydrodynamic lubrication theory. The flow analysis network (FAN) method of Tadmor et al. as modified by Szydlowski et al. [Int. Polym. Proc., 1, 207 (1987)] has been applied to determine pressure fields and velocity fields. The results show lower pressure development and greater back flows for staggered flight as opposed to matched flight tangential counter‐rotating twin screw extruders. The predictions agree well with experimental studies. Earlier theories of Kaplan and Tadmor, and Nichols overpredict the performance of matched flight twin screw machi