Preliminary Study of the Effect of Secondary Airflow on Fiber Attenuation During Melt Blowing

In order to enhance the fiber attenuation during the melt-blown process, a pair of air nozzle, which could erupt airflow as secondary airflow, below the spinning die was arranged and used. Firstly, the effect of applying secondary airflow on the whole airflow was explored by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. The simulation results demonstrate the interactive relationship between the primary airflow from the spinning die and the secondary airflow. Then, the air velocity of the whole airflow at conditions of with and without secondary airflow was experimental verified. Finally, the effect of secondary airflow on the fiber diameter and the fiber evenness was investigated by a spinning experiment. The spinning results reveals that the application of secondary airflow does not certainly enhance the fiber attenuation. The fiber diameter decreases only when the inlet velocity of secondary airflow is higher than a critical value. In addition, the spinning experiment indicates that the application of secondary airflow improves the evenness of fiber.