Tuesday, February 14, 2012

1110.1424 (Paula Mellado et al.)

A simple model for nanofiber formation by rotary jet-spinning    [PDF]

Paula Mellado, Holly A. McIlwee, Mohammad R. Badrossamay, Josue A. Goss, L. Mahadevan, K Parker
Nanofibers are microstructured materials that span a broad range of
applications from tissue engineering scaffolds to polymer transistors. An
efficient method of nanofiber production is Rotary Jet-Spinning (RJS),
consisting of a perforated reservoir rotating at high speeds along its axis of
symmetry, which propels a liquid, polymeric jet out of the reservoir orifice.
These jets undergo stretching and solidify forming nanoscale fibers. We report
a minimal scaling framework complemented by a semi-analytic and numerical
approach to characterize the regimes of nanofiber production using RJS. Our
theoretical model is validated for the fiber radius as a function of
experimentally tunable parameters. We summarize our findings in a phase diagram
for the design space of continuous nanofibers as a function of process
parameters, in good agreement with experiments and with natural implications
for the production rates as well as in the morphological quality of fibers.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.1424

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