Air drawing of polymers in the melt blowing nonwoven process: mathematical modelling

Abstract

An air drawing model of polymers and a model of the air jet flow field in the melt blowing process are established. The flow field model is solved using the finite difference method. The numerical computation results of distributions of the air velocity and air temperature coincide with the experimental data. The air drawing model of polymers is solved with the aid of the distributions of the air velocity and air temperature. The predicted fibre diameter tallies well with the experimental data. It is found that a higher initial air velocity can produce finer fibres, while the effect of the initial air temperature is not significant. The results show great prospects for this research in the field of computer assisted design of melt blowing technology and equipment.