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Experimental study on relationship between jet instability and formation of beaded fibers during electrospinning
Author(s) -
Zuo Weiwei,
Zhu Meifang,
Yang Wen,
Yu Hao,
Chen Yanmo,
Zhang Yu
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.20304
Subject(s) - rotational symmetry , materials science , jet (fluid) , instability , electrospinning , composite material , mechanics , electrohydrodynamics , rayleigh–taylor instability , electric field , polymer , physics , quantum mechanics
Abstract Ultrafine fibers produced by electrospinning often exhibit bead‐on‐string structures, which have generally been considered to be undesirable “by‐products” or defects. Theoretical analysis in the literature predicted three types of instabilities for an electrically driven jet: the axisymmetric Rayleigh instability, the electric field‐induced axisymmetric, and whipping instability. The process of bead formation revealed that the formation of a beaded structure resulted from axisymmetric deformation and flow of the jet. Applied voltage, solution surface tension, and conductivity (or jet charge density carried by the moving jet) were theoretically demonstrated to be important for jet axisymmetric instabilities. Experimental results revealed that these parameters influenced the formation of beaded fibers in the same manner as they did for the axisymmetric instabilities. As a result, the axisymmetric instabilities were considered to be the most likely mechanism of beaded fibers formation during electrospinning. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 45:704–709, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers