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Extrusion of a solvated polymer into a moving viscous medium allows generation of continuous polymer nanofibers via hydrodynamic focusing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

M. Gorantla ,
S.E. Boone ,
C. Clark ,
R. Esser ,
M. El-Ashry  and
D. Young
M. Gorantla
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 45435
S.E. Boone
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 45435
C. Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 45435
R. Esser
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 45435
M. El-Ashry
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 45435
D. Young*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 45435
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: daniel.young@wright.edu
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Abstract

Continuous, small-diameter polymer fibers may be fabricated by a method that involves injecting a solvated polymer into a highly viscous moving medium through a microaperture. The extruded fiber moves in a predictable spiral path and is collected around a spinning mandrel that also serves to pull the extruded fiber away from the aperture. In this study, fibers as small as 400 nm diameter were observed, but there was no indication that the experiments reported here have achieved the smallest structures possible by this technique. Video microscopy experiments revealed significant fiber diameter reduction in close proximity to the point of precursor injection via hydrodynamic focusing. This occurred due to flow mismatch between the precursor and surrounding media. This effect may be the dominant draw-down mechanism in a process that can produce truly continuous nanofiber. This method is capable of generating fibers from precursors with viscosities that would render them unspinnable by any other known method.

Keywords

FiberNanoscalePolymer
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , April 2007 , pp. 989 - 993
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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