Background

Electrospinning is the process where an electrostatic field is strong enough to overcome the surface tension of a liquid. This process allows nanofibers to have a very large surface area to volume ratio, thus having many applications in areas such as filtration and molecular protection. However, the largest technical issue with the process is when fabrication size becomes small. When the fibers required become smaller in both physical dimension and volume quantity, the manufacturing process becomes extremely slow.

Technology

To counteract the issue of slow manufacturing, the method of processing polymer solutions combines the benefits of electrospinning and melt-blowing, while broadening the conditions of both operations individually. This expands the operational range normally accessible by electrospinning, while increasing production rate. Electroblowing forces a polymer fluid through a spinneret, while simultaneously blowing a gas through an orifice. This process creates an electrostatic differential between the spinneret and collector, thus collecting more fibers at various sizes.

Advantages

- More efficient manufacturing process - Higher yield

Application

Nano-structures - Filters - Bio-Medical Engineering - chemical Engineering - materials science