Wave Characteristics of Coagulation Bath in Dry-Jet Wet-Spinning Process for Polyacrylonitrile Fiber Production Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

In this work, a three-dimensional volume-of-fluid computational fluid dynamics (VOF-CFD) model was developed for a coagulation bath of the dry-jet wet spinning (DJWS) process for the production of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fiber under long-term operating conditions. The PAN-fiber was assumed to be a deformable porous zone with variations in moving speed, porosity, and permeability. The Froude number, interpreted as the wave-making resistance on the liquid surface, was analyzed according to the PAN-fiber wind-up speed ( v P A N ). The effect of the PAN speed on the reflection and wake flow formed by drag between a moving object and fluid is presented. A method for tracking the wave amplitude with time is proposed based on the iso-surface of the liquid volume fraction of 0.95. The wave signal for 30 min was divided into the initial and resonance states that were distinguished at 8 min. The maximum wave amplitude was less than 0.5 mm around the PAN-fiber inlet nozzle for v P A N = 0.1–0.5 m/s in the resonance state. The VOF-CFD model is useful in determining the maximum v P A N under an allowable air gap of the DJWS process.