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

fiber Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) 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 inco ...

s. Streams of viscous polymer exit via the spinneret into air or

liquid Liquid is a state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape. Liquids adapt to the shape of their container and are nearly incompressible, maintaining their volume even under pressure. The density of a liquid is usually close to th ...

leading to a phase inversion which allows the polymer to solidify. The individual polymer chains tend to align in the fiber because of viscous flow. This airstream liquid-to-fiber formation process is similar to the production process for cotton candy. 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 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.

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Plastics industry {{industry-stub

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