Electrospinning of PCL/natural rubber blends (original) (raw)
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European Polymer Journal
Fibres were electrospun from blends of an epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) with a minor amount of a crystalline grade of polylactic acid (PLA), using a graft copolymer compatibilizer (ENR-g-JM) produced by reaction processing of a mixture of PLA and monoamine terminated polypropylene glycol (Jeffamine M600). The incorporation of PLA into the elastomer spinning solution in the form of a blend was necessary to obtain the required solution properties and to establish the appropriate operational conditions for the successful electrospinning of fibres. The addition of a small quantity of compatibilizer to the ENR/PLA blend reduced the severity of surface roughness of the fibres. Moreover, the use of monoamine terminated polypropylene glycol alone, as a plasticizer, was also found to exert a control on the development of surface texture during electrospinning. The rate of solvent induced crystallization in the swollen fibres jet was identified as the factor determining the surface topography.
Electrospun nanocomposites of poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) incorporated with PCL-grafted cellulose nanocrystals (PCL-g-CNC) were produced. PCL chains were grafted from cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) surface by ring-opening polymerization. Grafting was confirmed by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analyses (TGA). The resulting PCL-g-CNC were then incorporated into a PCL matrix at various loadings. Homogeneous nanofibers with average diameter decreasing with the addition of PCL-g-CNC were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). PCL-g-CNC domains incorporated into the PCL matrix were visualized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Thermal and mechanical properties of the mats were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), TGA and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The addition of PCL-g-CNC into the PCL matrix caused changes in the thermal behavior and crystallinity of the electrospun fibers. Significant improvements in Young's modulus and in strain at break with increasing PCL-g-CNC loadings were found. These results highlighted the great potential of cellulose nanocrystals as a reinforcement phase in electrospun PCL mats, which can be used as biomedical materials.
Polymer Journal, 2006
Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(glycolic acid) (PGA) have long been popular polymers in the development of tissue engineering scaffolds due to their biocompatibility, bioabsorbability, and good tensile strength. Electrospinning is an attractive approach for the production of non-woven, nano-to micron-scale fibrous tissue engineering scaffolds of complex geometries. In this study, we characterize electrospun blends of PLA and PGA via scanning electron microscopy, tensile testing, differential scanning calorimetry, and phase contrast microscopy to gain a better understanding of these blended structures for potential use in biomedical applications. [doi:10.1295/polymj.PJ2006062] KEY WORDS Poly(glycolic acid) / Poly(lactic acid) / Electrospinning / Differential Scanning Calorimetry / Polymer Blend /
Electrospinning of PCL-Based Blends: Processing Optimization for Their Scalable Production
Materials
In this work poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) based electrospun mats were prepared by blending PCL with microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB). The electrospinning processing parameters were firstly optimized with the aim to obtain scalable PCL-based electrospun mats to be used in the industrial sector. Neat PCL as well as PCL-MCC and PCL-PHB based mats in different proportions (99:1; 95:5; 90:10) were prepared. A complete morphological, thermal and mechanical characterization of the developed materials was carried out. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations showed that the addition of PHB to the PCL matrix considerably reduced the formation of beads. Both the addition of MCC and PHB reduced the thermal stability of PCL, but obtained materials with enough thermal stability for the intended use. The electrospun PCL fibers show greatly reduced flexibility with respect to the PCL bulk material, however when PCL is blended with PHB their stretchability is ...
Electrospun of polymer/bioceramic nanocomposite as a new soft tissue for biomedical applications
Journal of Asian Ceramic Societies, 2015
Iranian Gum Tragacanth (IGT) is among the most natural polymers which has interesting properties such as nontoxic nature, biodegradability and high resistance to bacterial attacks making it applicable for tissue scaffolds, protective clothing, and wound healing. In the current work, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/IGT nanocomposite fibre is prepared by using the electrospinning (ELS) technique in an aqueous solution with different volume ratios of 60/40, 70/30, 80/20, and 90/10. To enhance the chemical and mechanical stability of the produced samples, different amounts of nanoclay powder (1% and 3%) are added also to the solution. The blended nanofibres are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fouriertransform infrared (FTIR), and bioactivity evaluation in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and simulated body fluid (SBF) solutions. The FTIR analysis indicated that PVA and IGT may have H + bonding interactions. The results revealed that with a higher amount of IGT, a superior degradation as well as a higher chemical and biological stability could be obtained in the nanobiocomposite blend fibres. Furthermore, the blend nanofibre samples of 80/20 and 3% nanoclay powder exhibit a significant improvement during evaluation of its properties.
Acta biomaterialia, 2008
Polymer nanocomposites, based on poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) and organically modified montmorillonite, were prepared by the solution intercalation technique. The thermal stability of the prepared materials was analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis. Investigation of their mechanical properties revealed that incorporation of the high aspect ratio montmorillonite sheets into the matrix significantly enhanced the polymer stiffness without sacrificing its ductility. Fibrous membranes of neat and nanocomposite PCL were fabricated by electrospinning. The effect of the applied voltage, the solution concentration and the clay content of the nanocomposite materials on the final fibrous structure was investigated. The results showed that the introduction of the inorganic filler and the increase in the applied voltage from 7.5 to 15 kV facilitated the formation of fine fibers with fewer bead defects. The presence of nanoclay resulted in narrower fiber size distributions, although the mean fiber diameter was not significantly altered. The increase in the solution concentration led to the formation of more uniform fiber structures and to a slight increase in the mean fiber diameter. Furthermore, the electrospinning process affected significantly the structure of the nanocomposite material by increasing the interlayer spacing of the inorganic mineral.
Electrospinning of PVC with natural rubber
2013
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was mixed with natural rubbers which are liquid natural rubber (LNR), liquid epoxidised natural rubber (LENR) and liquid epoxidised natural rubber acrylate (LENRA) for a preparation of a fine nonwoven fiber's mat. PVC and each natural rubbers(PVC:LENR, PVC:LNR and PVC:LENRA) were mixed based on ratio of 70:30. Electrospinning method was used to prepare the fiber.The results show that the spinnable concentration of PVC/ natural rubber/THF solution is 16 wt%. The morphology, diameter, structure and degradation temperature of electrospun fibers were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). SEM photos showed that the morphology and diameter of the fibers were mainly affected by the addition of natural rubber. TGA results suggested that PVC electrospun fiber has higher degradation temperature than those electrospun fibers that contain natural rubber.
Fabrication and Characterization of Polycaprolactone (PCL)/Gelatin Electrospun Fibers
Over the past few decades, there has been considerable interest in developing electrospun fibers by using electrospinning technique for various applications. Polymer blending is one of the most effective methods in providing desired properties. In this study, synthetic polymer polycaprolactone (PCL) was blended together with natural polymer gelatin where both of them have different properties. It is done by using electrospinning technique. 10 %w/v and 14 %w/v PCL/gelatin electrospun fibers were successfully electrospun with different weight ratio. Processing parameters were set constant in this study and only solution parameters were altered. The optimized electrospun fiber formed was 14 %w/v PCL/gelatin 70:30 with average fiber diameter of 246.30 nm. No beaded fiber was formed in this scanning electron microscope (SEM) image. The result obtained also showed that by increasing the overall polymeric concentration of PCL/gelatin, average fiber diameter decreases. Fiber diameter was also found decreasing with the increase of the concentration of gelatin in the same concentratoin of PCL/gelatin blended electrospun fiber. Blending of PCL and gelatin in different weight ratio had provided different properties of electrospun fibers. It is believed that blended electrospun fibers can be used for biomedical applications.
Preparation and characterization of poly(ɛ-caprolactone) nonwoven mats via melt electrospinning
Polymer, 2012
Laser melt electrospinning is a novel technology to produce nonwoven scaffolds for tissue engineering (TE) applications. This solvent-free process is far safer than common solution electrospinning. In this paper, we demonstrated the poly( 3-caprolactone) (PCL) fibers diameters could be governed from 3 to 12 mm with changing electrospinning parameters. The various diameters can meet the needs of scaffold properties such as porosity, pore size, etc. Our experiential results also showed that the fibers diameter tended to decrease as laser current increased. The degradation of PCL molecular chains often occurs in the melt electrospinning process due to mechanical scission and thermal degradation. The crystallinity of as-spun PCL fibers was approximately equal to that of the annealing fibers by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In our experiential, the collected PCL electrospun fibers often fused together to form a three-dimension network structure, which is favorable to mechanical properties.