Spirograph based electrospinning system for producing fibre mat with near uniform mechanical property

Abstract

This study focuses on the development of Spirograph-based mechanical system (SBMS) for the collection of polyacrylonitrile fibres in an electrospinning process. The collector plate is set to trace a spiropath in such a way that the event of crossing the centre of collection region from different radial direction is high. To assess the capability of SBMS, electrospun mat of acrylic has been prepared and the properties of samples sectioned from different angular positions of a circular mat are evaluated. The diameter and alignment of fibres are analyzed by processing the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of electrospun mats with the use of ImageJ software. The electrospun mat produced using SBMS collector assembly exhibits near uniform characteristics like thickness, tensile strength, porosity, fibre diameter and fibre alignment as compared to the electrospun mat produced by using conventional static collector.