Polymer Fiber Spinning

HoUow-fiber fabrication methods can be divided into two classes (61). The most common is solution spinning, in which a 20—30% polymer solution is extmded and precipitated into a bath of a nonsolvent, generally water. Solution spinning allows fibers with the asymmetric Loeb-Soufirajan stmcture to be made. An alternative technique is melt spinning, in which a hot polymer melt is extmded from an appropriate die and is then cooled and sohdified in air or a quench tank. Melt-spun fibers are usually relatively dense and have lower fluxes than solution-spun fibers, but because the fiber can be stretched after it leaves the die, very fine fibers can be made. Melt spinning can also be used with polymers such as poly(trimethylpentene), which are not soluble in convenient solvents and are difficult to form by wet spinning. 

We use the spinning process to make polymer fibers and filaments that can be converted into fabrics and cordage. During fiber spinning, molten polymer is pumped through holes in a plate to form a multiplicity of strands that are rapidly stretched and cooled. The finished product comprising oriented fibers is either wound up on spools or converted directly into a non-woven fabric. 

The synthesis of intermediary inorganic sols or polymers in solution whose rheological properties may be attractive for the film deposition techniques such as spin coating or the spinning of fibers. 

Figure 7.67 Schematic illustration of three types of polymer fiber spinning operations (a) melt spinning, (b) dry spinning, and (c) wet spinning. From F. W. Billmeyer, Textbook of Polymer Science, 3rd ed. Copyright 1984 by John Wiley Sons, Inc. This material is used by permission of John Wiley...

Much more research has been carried out with polymers in which the coordinated metal atom is part of the chain backbone. Typically, the metal atoms are copper, nickel, and cobalt. Oxygen atoms or carbon atoms adjacent to the metal atom provide the electrons required for the coordinate bond.30 Polymers of this type are often rather intractable, for a variety of reasons. Specifically, insolubility can be a problem for species with moderate molecular weights. Also, coordination between chains can cause aggregation, and ligand-exchange reactions with small molecules such as solvents can cause chain scission. However, in some favorable cases, the intramolecular coordination is sufficiently strong for the polymer to be processed by the usual techniques such as spinning into fibers or extrusion into films.30... 

Fig. 12.14 Effect of the method of measurement on the value of D/Do for HDPE. Curve 1, frozen extrudates Curve 2, extrudates annealed at 160°C in hot silicon oil Curve 3, photographs of extrudates emerging from capillary Curve 4, photographs of extrudates in hot silicon oil. [Reprinted by permission from J. L. White and J. F. Roman, Extrudate Swell During the Melt Spinning of Fibers-Influence of Rheological Properties and Take-up Force, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 20, 1005 (1976).]...

J. L. White and J. F. Roman, Extrudate Swell During the Melt Spinning of Fibers—Influence of Rheological Properties and Take-up Force, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 20, 1005 (1976). 

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