A spinneret is a device used to extrude a polymer solution or polymer melt to form

fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate ...

s. Streams of

viscous The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the inter ...

polymer exit via the spinneret into

air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...

liquid A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a (nearly) constant volume independent of pressure. As such, it is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, gas, a ...

leading to a phase inversion which allows the polymer to solidify. The individual

polymer chain A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + '' -mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic an ...

s tend to align in the fiber because of

viscous flow The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the inter ...

. This airstream liquid-to-fiber formation process is similar to the production process for

cotton candy Cotton candy, also known as fairy floss and candy floss, is a spun sugar confection that resembles cotton. It usually contains small amounts of flavoring or food coloring. It is made by heating and liquefying sugar, and spinning it centrifu ...

. The fiber production process is generally referred to as "spinning". Depending on the type of spinneret used, either solid or hollow fibers can be formed. Spinnerets are also used for

electrospinning Electrospinning is a fiber production method that uses electric force to draw charged threads of polymer solutions or polymer melts up to fiber diameters in the order of some hundred nanometers. Electrospinning shares characteristics of both elec ...

and electrospraying applications. They are sometimes called ''coaxial needles,'' or ''coaxial emitters.'' Spinnerets are usually made of metals with melting points too low to withstand the heating processes employed in industrial metallurgy, and thus are generally not used to form metallic fibers.

References

Plastics industry {{industry-stub

See also

References