Effects of Electric Field on Multineedle Electrospinning: Experiment and Simulation Study

Electrospinning and melt blowing are the most commonly used processes for producing microfibrous nonwovens. In this paper, we study mass production of electrospinning with a multineedle system. To achieve uniform fibers at a high production rate, an auxiliary plate electrode has been used to be connected to a three-needle system to obtain a more uniform electric field. The spinnerets with two kinds of needle array, linear three-needle and triangular three-needle, are studied. The results of electrospinning experiments and electric field simulation demonstrate that the multineedle spinneret with an auxiliary plate can produce finer and more uniform nanofibers. And the fibers can be collected in a more concentrated area with the auxiliary plate. We also focus on the effect of the needle length protruded outside the plate. This study shows a possibility that by designing the electric field distribution, we can produce thinner fibers and more concentrated collection mats at a high production rate.