The dynamics and stability of the high-speed fiber spinning process with spinline flow-induced crystallization and neck-like deformation have been studied using a simulation model equipped with governing equations of continuity, motion, energy, and crystallinity, along with the Phan-Thien–Tanner constitutive equation. Despite the fact that a simple one-phase model was incorporated into the governing equations to describe the spinline crystallinity, as opposed to the best-known two-phase model [Doufas et al.
J Non-Newton Fluid Mech, 92:27–66,
2000a]; [Kohler et al.
J Macromol Sci Phys, 44:185–202,
2005] that treats amorphous and crystalline phases separately in computing the spinline stress, the simulation has successfully portrayed the typical nonlinear characteristic of the high-speed spinning process called neck-like spinline deformation. It has been found that the criterion for the neck-like deformation to occur on the spinline is for the extensional viscosity to decrease on the spinline, so that the spinning is stabilized by the formation of the spinline neck-like deformation. The accompanying linear stability analysis explains this stabilizing effect of the spinline neck-like deformation, corroborating a recent experimental finding [Takarada et al.
Int Polym Process, 19:380–387,
2004].
Keywords Apparent extensional viscosity - Flow-induced crystallization - High-speed fiber spinning - Neck-like deformation - Stability
This paper was presented at the 2nd Annual European Rheology Conference 2005 on April 21–23, 2005, in Grenoble, France.