The Dynamics of a Heated Free Jet of Variable Viscosity Liquid at Low Reynolds Numbers

Abstract

To spin polymers or glass into continuous fibers, molten material is forced through a nozzle into air forming a free liquid jet. The jet is cooled as it proceeds through the air and the cold fiber is collected on a rotating drum. The drum maintains tension on the jet causing it to attenuate as it cools. The behavior of a variable viscosity jet of glass was studied analytically and experimentally. In the analysis, it was assumed that the velocity and temperature distributions within the jet were one dimensional. Predictions of the jet shape, the temperature distribution and the tension in the jet as a function of the material properties and the process variables were obtained. Measurements of the jet shape and the tension distribution in the jet were made for various values of the flow rate, the collecting drum speed, and the nozzle temperature. The analytical predictions were found to be in error in the region of the jet within three to four nozzle diameters of the nozzle exit; below this point the theoretical and experimental results were in good agreement.