Study on the Physical Fields and Fabrication Processes of the Electrostatic-Induction-Assisted Solution Blowing Spinning

Electrostatic-induction-assisted solution blowing spinning (ESBS) is a novel and advanced nanofiber fabrication technology. Finite element simulations were used in this study to determine the distributions of the ESBS airflow and electric fields. The airflow axial velocity and the amount of surface charge on the jet are extracted and used to investigate process parameters. Comparative experiments confirmed that the average diameter of ESBS nanofibers is positively correlated with the distance between needle and electrode (DNE), injection speed, and diameter of electrode (DE), while negatively correlated with length of electrode (LE), air pressure, and voltage. The distance between needle and receiver (DNR) has little effect on the fiber diameter. The fiber web porosity increases with increases in some process parameters (DE, DNE, and DNR), while decreasing with increases in other process parameters (air pressure, injection speed, LE, and voltage). Fiber cover rate increases with increasing injection speed or voltage. Other process parameters have little effect on fiber cover rate. Orthogonal experiments indicate that the weighted order of influence of the process parameters on the average fiber diameter is: injection speed > air pressure ≈ voltage > DNE > DE > DNR ≈ LE. The optimal fabrication scheme was determined by analyzing the results of the orthogonal experiments. The results of this study provide theoretical and experimental bases for the promotion and application of ESBS nanofibers in biology, energy, filtration and other fields.