Parameter Study of Melt Spun Polypropylene Fibers by Centrifugal Spinning

摘要

Nanofibers and microfibers offer a myriad of applications ranging from filtration, composites, and energy harvesting to tissue engineering and drug delivery. Centrifugal spinning is a new technique that uses centrifugal forces to form nanofibers and microfibers both from solution and the melt. In this work, polypropylene fibers were prepared using centrifugal spinning from the melt. The effects of melt temperature, spinneret orifice diameter, collector distance, and rotation speed were evaluated with respect to fiber morphology and diameter. The optimal heating temperature was found to be between 200 and 230 C to produce bead-free fibers. Decreasing the spinneret orifice diameter and increasing the rotation speed of the spinneret yielded more uniform fibers with smaller diameters.