Filtration properties of electrospinning nanofibers

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science 2006-10, Vol.102 (2), p.1285-1290
• Main Authors: Qin, Xiao-Hong, Wang, Shan-Yuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; electrospinning; Exact sciences and technology; Fibers and threads; filtration properties; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; nanofibers; Polymer industry, paints, wood; pore diameter; PVA; Technology of polymers
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/app.24361

Electrospinning is a relatively simple method to produce submicron fibers from solutions of different polymers and polymer blends. The extensive application in future of electrospinning nanofibers is filtration. In this article, the filtration properties of electrospinning nanofibers were investigated. During the experiments, nanofibers layers with different area weight were electrospun on the spunbonded or meltblown sublayers. Fiber diameter, pore diameter, filtration efficiency as well as filtration resistance of nanofibers web and sublayers were measured, respectively, through a series of experiments. The results show that the fiber diameter of nanofibers is much smaller than that of sublayers. It is also found that the pore diameter of nanofibers web is much smaller than sublayers and coefficient variation of the pore diameter of nanofibers web is much smaller than sublayers. Moreover, the filtration efficiency and filtration resistance of sublayers are lower than nanofibers webs. The balance between efficiency and press drop is also investigated in the article. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 1285–1290, 2006