Simulation of Flow Induced Crystallization in Fiber Spinning Using the Radial Resolution Approximation

In this article we develop a more accurate model for describing flow induced crystallization within the thermomechanical framework created by Rao and Rajagopal [1, 2] to describe the problem of polymer crystallization in general and the problem of fiber spinning in particular. We incorporate the changes in the material symmetry during crystallization to study the problem of fiber spinning. This study differs from the recent studies by Kannan and Rajagopal [3, 4] in that a more appropriate two dimensional form for the balance of energy is used here, while in the previous studies by the same authors a one dimensional approximation is employed. The model incorporates the effects due to melt viscoelasticity, drag on the fiber, gravity, inertia effects, the cooling of the fiber, the initiation of crystallization (that depends on both the temperature and deformation), flow induced crystallization and the anisotropy of the crystalline phase of the semicrystalline solid. The predictions of the model are compared with the experimental results that are available and they are in agreement.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors thank the National Science Foundation for their support.

Dedicated to Prof. J.N. Reddy on the occasion of his 60th birthday.