A versatile hot melt centrifugal spinning apparatus for thermoplastic microfibres production.

The centrifugal spinning (CS) method could address common issues such as low production rate and high energy consumption in the industry of nonwoven textile fabrication. Similarly to cotton candy production, the high-speed rotating reservoir extrudes melt or solvent-based polymer from orifices to produce fibres. Using polymer melt avoids solvent elimination and toxicity, but the process is more difficult. Thus, a versatile lab-scale hot melt spinneret with the ability to pour pellets inside continuously to expand our knowledge of the CS method and investigating different extrusion geometries such as nozzlefree is developed. Among the controllable parameters are, the spinneret heating temperature (up to 300°C), its two interchangeable 3D printer nozzles. An Arduino code is used to stabilize the temperature. The system performance is investigated with polypropylene and polylactide. The results show that fibres under 15 μm in diameter are produced. This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visithttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.