Using Poly(ethylene Terephthalate) Melt Spinning Simulation for Process Optimization

Abstract

Plant data on melt spinning of poly(ethylene terephthalate) from industrial and pilot scale operations were used to compute the spinline stress σL at the glass transition temperature by using a constant tension model. The spinline stress is uniquely related to the orientation of the as-spun filaments, as measured by birefringence, within the parametric space of relevance to the industrial operations. The use of this correlation and the simulation package for stress computation for spinning process optimization is illustrated with a case study. The case study indicates that it may be feasible to improve spinning productivity without affecting fiberline processibility only by ap propriate changes in the melt spinning parameters, and no hardware changes may be necessary for the exercise.