What Is The Structure Of the Centrifugal Electrospinning Setup?

In most centrifugal spinning systems, the polymer solution or melt is injected into the spinneret, which is perforated with multiple nozzles around the sidewall and connected to the motor on the other side as shown in Fig. 10.3. Then liquid jets are formed at the nozzle tips or the polymer pathway of the spinning head when the centrifugal force overcomes the surface tension of the spinning fluid. After the liquid jets come out of the nozzle tips, the centrifugal force and the air frictional force can elongate and solidify the liquid jets into a fibrous morphology with solvent evaporation. The macromolecular chain entanglements of the polymer lead to a viscoelasticity, which enables continuous jet formation. Therefore, a good collaboration between rotational speed and solution concentration can prevent jet breakup and bead formation.

CENTRIFUGAL FORCE

Using PEO as a model polymer, Peterson et al. produced nanofibers at a production rate of 6.5 mg/h cm2(Fig. 7.19). Important parameters that affect the nanofiber production rate include voltage, spinneret rotation speed, solution feed rate, distance between spinning head and collector, and solution concentration. In this way, polyacrylonitrile fibers were produced successfully. This technique is also compatible with various collectors, such as a moving belt for collecting large membranes, parallel collector electrodes for aligned fibers, and parallel collector electrodes with one rotating electrode for producing short yarns.