Computational analysis of the bonding process and structure of the bond point during through air bonding

Though-air bonding is one of the methods of bonding fibres in nonwoven webs. A computational study of the formation of bond point between two bicomponent fibres during the through-air bonding is reported in this paper. The computational method involves solving the Navier-Stokes equations for two-phase flows of air and molten polymer in a three-dimensional configuration. The heating, melting and bonding of fibres are modelled by the Volume of Fluid (VOF) model together with a melting model. The simulated results show the formation of the bond between two fibres in contact and the change of shape of the bond with time at different bonding temperatures. The computation shows that the rate of bonding increases slightly at higher temperature.