Polymer Spinning
• Polymer Spinning means manufacturing process for
creating polymer fibers.
• It is a specialized form of extrusion that uses
a spinneret to form multiple continuous filaments.
• There are many types of spinning:
[Link] spinning
[Link] spinning
a. Dry spinning
b. Wet spinning
c. Gel spinning
3. Electro spinning
Melt spinning
• In melt spinning, polymer is heated and it melts to form a
liquid spinning solution or dope.
• Chips of polymers are fed to a hopper which is heated. There
is a grid (sieve) at the base which permits only molten liquid to
pass through.
• Then the solution is purified by filter.
• The molten polymer is extruded at high pressure and constant
rate through a spinneret into a relatively cooler air stream that
solidifies the filaments.
• Finally the filament yarn either is immediately wound onto
bobbins or is further treated for certain desired characteristics
or end use.
• Example: Melt spinning is used for the production of polyester,
nylon, olefin, saran and glass fibres.
• Advantages:
• ►High speed (275 to 1500 yds/min); (4000
yds/min spin draw)
• ►No solvents
• ►No purification problems
• Disadvantages:
• ►Separate drawing step (unless spin draw)
Schematic of
the three principal
types of fibre
spinning:
(a) melt spinning
(b) dry spinning
(c) wet spinning
Wet
Spinning
• Wet spinning is the oldest of the five processes.
• Wet spinning is based on precipitation, where a polymer
is drawn through a spinneret into a non-solvent.
• This process is used for polymers that need to
be dissolved in a solvent to be spun.
• The spinneret is submerged in a chemical bath that
causes the fiber to precipitate, and then solidify, as it
emerges.
• The process gets its name from this "wet" bath.
• Acrylic, rayon, aramid, modacrylic, and spandex
are produced via this process.
Schematic figure of Wet
Spinning
Wet Spinning…
• The prepared spinning dope is extruded into the non-solvent
and precipitation or coagulation occurs.
• Being extruded into a liquid provides a greater drag force on
the Filament than those extruded directly into air. Therefore
the speeds at which this occurs is reduced from that of melt
and dry spinning.
• Once evaporated these fibres then have to be drawn or
stretched in order to orient the polymers to give the fibre its
strength.
• The fibre solution is extruded into a liquid that will draw out
the solvent, leaving behind only the polymer.
• The rate at which this occurs is crucial, as if it occurs too
quickly the bath liquid can create micro-voids in the fibre which
will be a weak points.
Wet Spinning…
Basic Process of Wet
Spinning
(i) Preconditioning of polymer dope
In a typical wet spinning line, the dope solution is
filtered to remove gel particles or any solid impurity
and de-aerated to remove trapped air/gasses.
If necessary, the polymer dope may also be heated to
a pre- determined temperature.
This ensures smooth extrusion of the polymer solution
into the spinning line.
A metering pump is used similar to that in melt
spinning to regulate the flow of the polymer solution
to the spinneret
(ii) Spinneret in solution
spinning
The spinneret plate, in solution spinning, is made of a soft
corrosion resistant material, such as special grade SS or
platinum.
It is usually thin with diameter of individual spinneret holes in
the range of 0.025 – 0.1 mm and L/D ratio of 1.
Both the diameter of the spinneret and the length of the
spinneret are much smaller than those kept in melt spinning.
This is because the viscosity of the polymer solution is
significantly lower (300-500 poise) and a high pressure is not
required to push the dope through the spin pack or
spinneret holes.
The holes are also placed very close to each other because the elasticity of
the polymer solution is much less compared to that in melt spinning and the
polymer solution shows only a limited extent of extrudate swell.
(iii) Coagulation bath in wet spinning
The polymer solution is extruded inside a coagulation bath which
normally has a mixture of a solvent and a non-solvent.
The composition of the coagulation bath, said as “bath
concentration”, is expressed as the concentration of solvent in the
solvent/non-solvent mixture.
(iv) Washing/ Drying (Post coagulation processes)
The fibre from the coagulation bath is washed several times,
stretched, crimped, and/or heat-set (as may be required for a
particular fibre) before winding it as a filament or cutting it into
staple fibres.
Attempts are made to maintain concentration of coagulation bath by
constantly removing a certain amount of spent coagulation fluid and
replacing it with fresh coagulation fluid.
Dry-jet wet
spinning
• A variant of wet spinning is dry-jet wet spinning, where the solution is
extruded into air and drawn, and then submerged into a liquid bath.
• This method is used in Lyocell spinning of dissolved cellulose.
• In this method the polymer is dissolved in an appropriate solvent to make
the fibre solution. This solution is then extruded under heat and pressure
into an air gap before it enters a coagulation bath.
• The produced fibre is then washed and dried before it is heat treated and
drawn.
• This is an alternative method to wet spinning and is required as spinning
directing into the bath, for some fibres, creates microvoids that negatively
affect the fibre properties, this is due to the solvent being drawn out of the
liquid too quickly.
• An inert atmosphere may be required to prevent oxidisation in some
polymers, if so fibres are extruded into a nitrogen atmosphere.
Schematic figure of Dry-jet wet
Spinning
Wet
Spinning
Dry-jet wet
Spinning
Molecular orientation during
dry-jet wet spinning
Dry
Spinning
• In dry spinning the polymer is dissolved in solvent and then
extruded, as the fibres emerge through the spinneret the
solvent is evaporated off with hot air, in most cases this is
then collected and re-used.
• Because there is no precipitating liquid involved, the fiber
does not need to be dried, and the solvent is more easily
recovered.
• It differs in that the solidification is achieved through
evaporation of the solvent. This is usually achieved by a
stream of air or inert gas.
Dry
spinning…
• Dry spinning is required for polymers with a melt
temperature equal to or close to their thermal
degradation temperature.
• In order to be processed into fibres, polymers must
be dissolved in solvent.
• Acetate, triacetate, acrylic, modacrylic,
polybenzimidazole fiber, spandex, and vinyon are
produced via this process.
Dry
spinning…
Dry Spinning
Process…
• In dry spinning, the polymer dope solution, after
filtration and deaeration, is metered using a metering
pump and pushed through a multihole spinneret into a
closed spinning chamber/tower circulated with heated
air/gas.
• The solvent from the extruded filaments evaporates due
to the high surrounding temperature of the gas and is
carried out of the spinning chamber by the circulating
hot gas.
• The solvent and the gas are separated and recycled
back into the spinning system.
