Research on Preparation of Three-Component Composite Fiber with Complex Cross-Sectional Pattern

In this work, a preparation method of three-component composite fibers with complex cross-sectional patterns was proposed, and the fibers with complex cross-sectional patterns were fabricated using melt spinning. Initially, inspired by the shape of a fishbone, a spinning pack with three-component melt channels was designed for spinning fibers with a “fishbone” cross-sectional pattern. Then, the numerical simulation of the melt flow in the channels of the spinning pack was performed using Polyflow software. The spinning pack structure was optimized by analyzing the flow velocity distribution and shear rate distribution of different components within the spinning pack channels. The results showed that smaller velocity fluctuations contribute to the clarity of the cross-sectional pattern. Thereafter, the spinning experiments were carried out based on the optimized spinning pack. The effect of the flow ratio between the three components on the cross-sectional pattern was discussed, and the three-component composite fibers with a clear “fishbone” cross-sectional pattern were obtained. Finally, in order to further study the effectiveness of the complex cross-sectional pattern fiber preparation proposed in this paper, another spinning pack for fibers with an “H-shaped” cross-sectional pattern was designed according to the aforementioned method, and spinning experiments were carried out. The SEM images of the cross-sections of fibers with “fishbone” and “H-shaped” cross-sectional patterns were obtained, verifying the feasibility of the method proposed in this paper. Moreover, the fibers with complex cross-sectional patterns obtained by this method have a certain anti-counterfeiting effect and can also be blended with other yarns to obtain fabrics with anti-counterfeiting effects.