Regression analysis of manufacturing electrospun nonwoven nanotextiles

Abstract

Electrospinning is a simple and relatively inexpensive method of producing nanofibres by solidifi- cation of a polymer solution, stretched by an electric field. In the present work, the results of a systematic investigation of the effects of varying manufacturing parameters on the electrospinning of nanotextiles are reported. The physical and mathematical descriptions of the electrospinning process still remain challenging despite several reported parametric studies performed under various experimental configurations. Since the quality of the nanofibres produced using electrospinning is defined by their fineness and variations of diameter, the relationship between fibre diameter and production parameters has been studied here using multiple regression analysis (MRA) to facilitate quality control of the produced nanofibres. The governing parameters investigated are the concentration and feed rate of polymer solution, applied voltage and the relative humidity of the enclosed area. The results show that polymer concentration and feed rate have significant and controlled impacts on producing fibres with diameters in the nano-range. Voltage and humidity also have considerable effects although their contributions to fibre stretching cannot be well-controlled. It is evident that the relationship derived from the two major factors, polymer concentration and feed rate, can predict the produced fibre diameter more accurately compared to that derived from all factors.