Simulation of polymer jet motion during melt blowing with phase field method

Abstract

In the past two decades, a number of models have been built to simulate the motion of polymer jet during melt blowing. Unfortunately, the complex interaction between polymer jet and air flow field has been rarely reported. In this work, a phase-field method was applied to simulate the coupling effects between polymer and air flow during melt blowing and the computed results were compared with the results of the model built through level-set method and experimental results. Velocity in the x direction, velocity in the y direction, whipping amplitude and diameter of polymer jet were discussed, respectively. It was found that the velocity predicted by the present model was higher than that predicted by the level-set method. However, both of them are close to the experimental value. The calculated final fiber diameter based on the phase-field method is much closer with the experimental value than that based on the level set method. Based on the model, the effect of polymer surface tension and slot angle on the polymer jet velocity were discussed.