Meltblowing: II-linear and nonlinear waves on viscoelastic polymer jets

The work is devoted to the theory of meltblown polymer jets. Polymer jets are experiencing strong stretching and flapping being subjected to the pulling action of a high speed surrounding axisymmetric gas jet. The bending perturbations of polymer melt jets are triggered by the surrounding turbulent eddies and enhanced by the distributed lift force acting on the jets. We study first growth of small perturbations in the framework of the linear stability theory. Then, the fully nonlinear case of large-amplitude planar bending perturbations of polymer jet is solved numerically. Both isothermal and nonisothermal cases are considered. The cooling of the surrounding gas jet results in cooling of the polymer jet inside, and to the arrest of the bending perturbation growth due to melt solidification. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3457893]