Numerical Simulation of the Melt Spinning Process of Noncircular Fibers Incorporating Surface Tension

Incorporating surface tension, a mathematical modeling system was established to simulate the melt spinning process of a noncircular fiber. A Newtonian fluid was assumed and an isothermal spinning process was considered. Finite element method was adopted to solve the system. The predicted shape of as‐spun fiber was compared with experiments. It was found that surface tension was a key factor in the spinning process of noncircular fibers, which would greatly change the fiber cross‐sectional shape. Simulation would fail to predict the noncircular fiber shape accurately if surface tension was ignored. The fiber shape change caused by the velocity rearrangement only occurs near the spinneret, but surface tension would keep changing the curvature of the fiber surface along the spinline. Die swell of fiber extrudate during the spinning process was also investigated and it was found that die swelling of fiber extrudate near the spinneret was greatly suppressed by the stretch imposed by a take‐up device, when compared with the free extrusion process.