Effect of Polymer Concentration, Rotational Speed, and Solvent Mixture on Fiber Formation Using Forcespinning®

Fibers

Nancy Obregon¹  Yuanbing Mao¹  Javier Macossay¹  Madhab Pokhrel²  David De la Garza²  Mataz Alcoutlabi²  Howard Campos²  Victor Agubra²  David Flores² 

[1] Chemistry Department, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA;Mechanical Engineering Department, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA;

关键词: fibers;    centrifugal spinning;    biopolymers;    crystallization;    DSC;    electron microscopy;   

DOI  :  10.3390/fib4020020

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers were produced using Forcespinning® (FS). The effects of PCL concentration, solvent mixture, and the spinneret rotational speed on fiber formation were evaluated. The concentration of the polymer in the solvents was a critical determinant of the solution viscosity. Lower PCL concentrations resulted in low solution viscosities with a correspondingly low fiber production rate with many beads. Bead-free fibers with high production rate and uniform fiber diameter distribution were obtained from the optimum PCL concentration (i.e., 12.5 wt%) with tetrahydrofuran (THF) as the solvent. The addition of N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) to the THF solvent promoted the gradual formation of beads, split fibers, and generally affected the distribution of fiber diameters. The crystallinity of PCL fibers was also affected by the processing conditions, spinning speed, and solvent mixture.

【 授权许可】

Unknown