Modeling the Air-Jet Flow Field of a Dual Slot Die in the Melt Blowing Nonwoven Process

Abstract

An air-jet How field model of the dual slot die in the melt blowing nonwoven process is proposed and solved numerically with the finite difference method. The effects of dual slot die design parameters on velocity and temperature distributions in the melt blowing flow field are investigated. The computation results of the distributions of the x-compo nents of air velocity and air temperature coincide well with our experimental data. The results show that a smaller angle α, a larger slot width e, and a narrower head width f will all result in higher x-components of air velocity and higher air temperatures, which are beneficial to the air drawing of the polymer melt and thus to reduced fiber diameter. The results show the great potential of this research for computer-assisted design in the melt blowing nonwoven technology.