Abstract
Poly(ether ether ketone)(PEEK) has generally been spun at the spinning temperature over 380°C. The cooling behavior of the spinline was analyzed considering the effects of natural convection and heat radiation for the PEEK spinline whose temperature was controlled by a heating tube set beneath the spinneret. At the high temperature and in the low speed melt spinning processes, the Nusselt number should be a function of not only Reynolds number but also Rayleigh number. It was estimated for each spinning condition by assuming the empirical formula Nu=kReaRab. The obtained Nusselt numbers were higher than the reported values, especially when the fiber temperature is higher than 300°C. The higher cooling rate on the spinning line was caused by the natural convection.
