An experment examined the melt spinning process for sources of instability, focusing on the phenomena of draw resonance and disturbance amplification. An analysis of nonlinear draw resonance dynamics during isothermal melt extrusion yielded equations for Newtonian, exponential, and viscoelastic fluids. The equations quantified the relationship between draw resonance and such processing parameters as specific heat at constant pressure, binary diffusivity for the polymer-solvent system, solvent vapor pressure, solvent vaporization heat, solvent molecular weight, molar flux of solvent at the filament surface, Reynolds number, polymer mass flow rate, solvent mass flow rate, spinline speed, spinline deflection, elongational viscosity, kinematic viscosity, and density. Using algorithms based on these equations, computer models simulated steady-state extrusion processes and compared the results to those from partial differential equations describing air jet melt spinning and dry melt spinning. Results showed that the properties of as-spun fibers, such as molecular orientation, could be accurately estimated by the computer models. 25 refs.