Rheological Analysis in a Spinning Process of a hollow fiber membrane

In the dry-jet-wet-spinning process of a hollow fiber membrane, the polymer solution is pumped into a coaxial tube, jet spinneret. The threadline emerging from the spinneret is stabilized by an internal coagulating medium(liquid or gas) as it emerges from the jet orifice. The nascent hollow thread is further stabilized in a quench bath as shown in Fig. 1. In this scheme, three mechanism of formatiota(temperature gradient, solvent evaporation, and solvent-nonsotvent exchange) can be combined. The changes which promote stabilization often play a dominant role in determining the ultimate fiber wall structure as well. Hence, in pratice, hollow fiber stabilization and development of membrane structure are commonly inseparable. However, fiber dimension(the inside diameter and wall thickness of the hollow fiber) is mainly a rheological problem and is determined by dope pumping rate, spinneret diatance from the coagulation bath, inner coagulant flow rate, and fiber draw-rate. Besides rheological phenomena play a prominent part in the final properties of the hollow fiber.