Formation and characterization of polymer jets in electrospinning

The electrospinning jet is defined as a continuous fluid flow ejected from the surface of a fluid when the applied electrical force overcomes the surface tension of the fluid. The electrospinning jet is a micron-scale, often vibrating, tapered, fast developing, electrically charged fluid flow with a high tensile force along the axis. These characteristics create many difficulties in understanding the nature of the jet. The formation and development of the electrospinning jets was introduced using a newly discovered slow developing electrospinning system. The reasons for this system to spin considerably slower and larger in scale than most of the other systems reported were discussed. A fluid mechanical stretching apparatus was designed to apply a uniaxial elongation to the polymer fluid. A rheological model was developed to interpret the experimental data. The elongational relaxation time and the elongational viscosity of polymer solutions were characterized. A novel method was developed to characterize the micron scale jet diameter from the interference color shown on the jet. The relationship between the jet diameter and the interference color on the jet was investigated experimentally and theoretically. The jet diameters were calculated from the interference colors by a comprehensive computer model developed. It was also demonstrated that interference fringes on a cylindrical jet generated by a plane of laser light can be used to characterize the diameter of a micron scale jet. Fluid velocities as a function of positions along the jet axis were characterized by tracing particle movement during electrospinning using high-speed photography. The effects of the electric field on the fluid jet velocity and acceleration were investigated. The strain rate of the electrospinning jets was calculated from the jet diameter, the taper rate and the jet velocity. The strain rate increases when spinning voltage is decreased. The strain rate at different positions along jet axis was also investigated. A long working distance polarized microscope was built and used to study the molecular chain orientation in the course of the electrospinning. Very low spinning voltage facilitated chain alignment in electrospinning, which conforms to the theoretical calculation. The solidification effect plays a more important role than electric field strength in determining the final fiber diameter.