Nanofiber diameter in electrospinning of polymer solutions: Model and experiment

Published Date
Received 7 January 2016, Revised 15 May 2016, Accepted 18 May 2016, Available online 20 May 2016.

Author
R. Stepanyan. Author links open the author workspace.Opens the author workspaceOpens the author workspacea. Numbers and letters correspond to the affiliation list. Click to expose these in author workspaceA.V. Subbotin. Author links open the author workspace.b. Numbers and letters correspond to the affiliation list. Click to expose these in author workspaceL. Cuperus. Author links open the author workspace.a. Numbers and letters correspond to the affiliation list. Click to expose these in author workspaceP. Boonen. Author links open the author workspace.a. Numbers and letters correspond to the affiliation list. Click to expose these in author workspaceM. Dorschu. Author links open the author workspace.a. Numbers and letters correspond to the affiliation list. Click to expose these in author workspaceF. Oosterlinck. Author links open the author workspace.a. Numbers and letters correspond to the affiliation list. Click to expose these in author workspaceM.J.H. Bulters. Author links open the author workspace.a. Numbers and letters correspond to the affiliation list. Click to expose these in author workspace

a

Materials Science Center, DSM Research, PO Box 18, NL-6160 MD Geleen, The Netherlands

b

A. V. Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119991, Russia

Highlights

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A model for nanofiber formation in electrospinning of polymer solutions is proposed.

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Fiber elongation and thinning is driven by electrostatic forces.

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It is opposed by viscous forces, enhanced by solvent evaporation.

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Diameter is mainly influenced by solution viscosity, evaporation rate and current.

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The model predictions are in a good agreement with experiments on polyamide-6.

Abstract

A model describing nanofiber formation in electrospinning of a polymer solution is proposed. It is shown that the final nanofiber diameter is determined by the dynamics governed by two main competing factors: (i) elongation under the influence of the electric repulsion between the charges on the fiber surface, which is opposed by (ii) the viscoelastic forces growing in the course of time due to evaporation and stopping the fiber elongation and thinning. Both scaling and numerical analyses performed show that the terminal fiber diameter is controlled by the solution viscosity, the specific charge (electric current divided by the spinning throughput) and the evaporation rate. Model predictions are supported well by our own experiments performed on polyamide-6 solutions as well as literature data.

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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032386116304359