EFFECTS OF POST-DRAWING PROCESS VARIABLES ON ELECTROSPUN NANOFIBER STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES

The current study examines several variable effects of a unique automated track electrospinning collection device for enhancement of nanofiber material properties. Due to processing artifacts such as polymer chain relaxation, which degrades the macromolecular alignment of polymer fibers, electrospun nanofibers have significantly inferior properties compared to conventionally spun fibers. Examining the variable effects of automated track post-drawing can help elucidate these phenomena and allow for the optimization of fiber properties which would enhance their use in applications such as tissue engineering, wound repair, filtration, industrial textiles, drug delivery, electronics, and composite reinforcement. In this investigation an automated track collection system was implemented which contains two parallel aluminum tracks which revolve adjacently below an electrospinning jet, in effect post-stretching the collected nanofibers. The tracks can be angled at the bottom in such a manner which enables the elongation of fibers as they travel down the tracks for the purpose of aligning the polymer chains within the fibers. Both polymer solution and process-based parameters such as draw ratio, collection duration, draw rate, and molecular weight were evaluated for their potential influence on the resultant characteristics of electrospun polymer fiber arrays as consequence of post-draw processing