Chemical treatments for improving adhesion between electrospun nanofibers and fabrics (original) (raw)

Review on Electrospun Nanofiber-Applied Products

Polymers

Electrospinning technology, which was previously known as a scientific interdisciplinary research approach, is now ready to move towards a practice-based interdisciplinary approach in a variety of fields, progressively. Electrospun nanofiber-applied products are made directly from a nonwoven fabric-based membranes prepared from polymeric liquids involving the application of sufficiently high voltages during electrospinning. Today, electrospun nanofiber-based materials are of remarkable interest across multiple fields of applications, such as in electronics, sensors, functional garments, sound proofing, filters, wound dressing and scaffolds. This article presents such a review for summarizing the current progress on the manufacturing scalability of electrospun nanofibers and the commercialization of electrospun nanofiber products by dedicated companies globally. Despite the clear potential and limitless possibilities for electrospun nanofiber applications, the uptake of electrospinni...

The effect of processing variables on the morphology of electrospun nanofibers and textiles

Electrospinning is a process that produces continuous polymer fibers with diameters in the sub-micron range through the action of an external electric field imposed on a polymer solution or melt. Non-woven textiles composed of electrospun fibers have a large specific surface area and small pore size compared to commercial textiles, making them excellent candidates for use in filtration and membrane applications. While the process of electrospinning has been known for over half a century, current understanding of the process and those parameters, which influence the properties of the fibers produced from it, is very limited. In this work, we have evaluated systematically the effects of two of the most important processing parameters: spinning voltage and solution concentration, on the morphology of the fibers formed. We find that spinning voltage is strongly correlated with the formation of bead defects in the fibers, and that current measurements may be used to signal the onset of the processing voltage at which the bead defect density increases substantially. Solution concentration has been found to most strongly affect fiber size, with fiber diameter increasing with increasing solution concentration according to a power law relationship. In addition, electrospinning from solutions of high concentration has been found to produce a bimodal distribution of fiber sizes, reminiscent of distributions observed in the similar droplet generation process of electrospray. In addition, we find evidence that electrostatic effects influence the macroscale morphology of electrospun textiles, and may result in the formation of heterogeneous or three-dimensional structures.

Structure and Process Parameter Relations of Electrospun Nanofibers

2016

April 10-15, 2016 Abstract Electrospinning has been a process of great interest due to its versatility and potential to be used in a wide range of applications. It is possible to produce nanofibers with diameters ranging between a few nanometers to micrometers thanks to the latest developments in electrospinning. Electrospun nanofibers promise diverse applications including biotechnology, drug delivery, wound healing, tissue engineering, microelectronics, environmental protection, energy harvest and storage due to their very large surface area to volume ratio, flexibility in surface functionalities and superior mechanical performance. This paper focuses on electrospinning process principles and relation of process parameters with electrospun polyurethane (PU) nanofiber structural properties. The electrospun PU nanofibers have been used as coating on textile fabric.

The Impact of Solvents on the Properties of Electrospun Nanofibers

2018

Electrospun Polyurethane nanofibrous webs were produced from the solutions prepared with various volume ratios of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and Tetrahydrofuran (THF). Characteristics of the blended solutions were explored in terms of viscosity and conductivity. Morphologies of nanofibrous webs were observed by SEM analysis. Experimental results exhibited that the morphologies of polyurethane nanofiber webs have been changed significantly with the solvent selection and mixing ratios of the solvents during electrospinning. Diameter of the nanofibers was ranged between 277 nm and 556 nm, respectively. Tensile strength and elongation measurements proved that mechanical properties of the nanofibrous webs were remarkably influenced by the fiber morphology and the uniformity.