Computational analysis of fibre bonding in the through-air process

Abstract

Through-air bonding is one of the thermal methods of bonding fibres in the production of non-woven webs. A computational study of the formation of bond point between two bicomponent fibres during the through-air bonding process is reported in this paper. The computational method involves solving the Navier-Stokes equations for two-phase flows of air and molten polymer in a three-dimensional configuration. The heating, melting, and bonding of fibres are modelled by the volume of fluid model together with a melting model. The simulated results show the formation of the bond between two fibres in contact and the change of shape of the bond with time at different bonding temperatures. The computation shows that the rate of bonding increases slightly at higher temperature.