Electrospinning technique is a process to prepare fibers with different variety of shapes and diameter sizes in a range of nano to micrometre through an electrically charged jet of polymer solution. The fibers prepared by this technique are studied for a wide variety of industrial and biomedical applications. Therefore, to synthesise fiber materials for the required needs a low-cost electrospinning equipment was designed as well as a coaxial needle.<br/>The working parameters on electrospinning give a better understanding not only in the use of the equipment but also in how to obtain the desired material from a polymer solution.<br/>The collector (formed by an aluminium plate attached to a methacrylate plate) was placed in a platform. The arm, which supports the needle, was printed using Polylactic acid as printing material. The collector and the arm were connected to 3 servo-motor (two for the collector, one for the arm) which can be controlled using an Arduino plate and allowing the axis to be moved in 2-Dimesions of the plane (x-y) for the collector, and in one dimension of the plane (z) for the arm going up and down.<br/>Effect of the solution concentration and solvent used, flow rate, distance between the needle and collector and voltage applied are the parameters studied for HPMC fibers’ morphology optimisation. Uniform and free of patches nanofibers are obtained when the concentration of the polymer is increased and the amount of solvent used in the solution is reduced. An optimal distance and flow rate were found to obtain smooth and more resistant fibers.<br/>In conclusion, a versatile electrospinning equipment was designed to satisfy the working needs. An optimised operation of the equipment has been tested by setting-up the working parameters needed to prepare smooth and uniform nanofibers. In addition, this polyvalent design has been made with the future idea of preparing materials in 3-Dimensions and the possibility of not only working in a far field but also in a near field, together with a coaxial needle that will allow core-shell fibers synthesis.

Design and set-up of a low-cost electrospinning equipment: Study of working parameters using HPMC nanofibers

2019 Fall National Meeting

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