Musa Akdere

Increasing washing performance of wet-spun fibers

Purpose – The wet-spinning process is very important for the development and production of new lightweight design materials. The washing process is determined as one of the most cost-expensive part of wet spinning. The purpose of this paper is to show the development of a new washing concept. It proposes to increase the washing performance by decreasing fiber-fiber-interfaces during the washing process. Design/methodology/approach – For this purpose, conventional washing concepts are investigated by means of simulations and experiments to obtain process knowledge. Computational fluid dynamics simulation and particle image velocimetry measurements are used to investigate the process. Findings – The overall deficit in conventional washing methods is the large number of fiber-fiber-interfaces, which inhibit the solvent transport out of the compact fiber bundle. Therefore, a new washing concept with included water nozzles is developed. Based on the simulations and observations it is found that the arrangement...