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An experimental study was conducted to determine the threshold electrostatic field to initiate electrohydrodynamic jetting from a polymer solution droplet wetting on a conductive wire. The study is crucial to understand the roles of the material and process parameters in wire-based needleless electrospinning for controllable mass production of continuous nanofibers. Two types of polymer solutions, i.e., polyacrylonitrile/N,N-dimethylformamide (PAN/DMF) and aqueous polyethyloxide solution (PEO/H2O), with the mass concentrations of 4%, 8%, 12%, and 16% for PAN and 1%, 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% for PEO, respectively, were considered in the experiments. Taut thin copper wires with diameters of 0.254, 0.508, 1.016, and 1.524 mm (i.e., 0.01, 0.02, 0.04, and 0.06 in.) were utilized, respectively, as the positive electrodes. The effects of the polymer concentration and wire diameter on the threshold electrical voltage for jetting initiation and nanofiber diameter were examined. Given the droplet volume and spacing between the copper wire and fiber collector, experimental observations show that the threshold electrical voltage increases with increasing either polymer mass concentration or wire diameter. In addition, the effects of polymer mass concentration on the transient shear viscosity and surface tension of the PAN/DMF solutions were examined. It shows the positive correlation between the transient shear viscosity and polymer mass concentration, shear thinning of the polymer solution at a high shear rate, and nearly constant surface tension of the polymer solution in the range of the present PAN mass concentration. Furthermore, a simple electrostatic model is formulated to phenomenologically elucidate the experimental observations. The present study provides useful scaling laws for controllable scale-up nanofiber fabrication by means of a wire-based needleless electrospinning technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the size effect on the elastic behavior of solid and hollow polymer nanofibers (e.g., electrospun nanofibers) subjected to uniaxial tension. A one-dimensional nonlinear elastic tension model is proposed that takes into account the coupling effect of fiber elastic deformation and surface tension. The fiber axial force-displacement and stress-strain relations are obtained in explicit forms. It is shown that, at nanoscale, fiber radius has appreciable effect on the elastic response of polymer nanofibers. With consideration of the fiber radial effect, it is shown that the actual contribution of surface energy of the solid polymer fibers to the axial tensile force is πr0γ rather than 2πr0γ (where r0 is the fiber radius after deformation and γ is the surface tension), as commonly used in literature. Compared to solid polymer fibers, the tensile behavior of hollow polymer nanofibers appears more complex with greater axial stiffening effect depending upon the combination effect of the fiber exterior and interior radii and the material properties. The results presented in this study can be utilized for data reduction of the nanoscale tension tests of polymer nanofibers and the analysis and design of nanofiber devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface effect on the longitudinal and flexural wave propagation in straight nanofibers/nanowires is studied within the framework of continuum mechanics. Modified Euler-Bernoulli and Rayleigh-Love rod equations and modified Timoshenko beam equation were developed to take into account the surface effect. It was found that surface tension/stress plays appreciable influence on the wave propagation in nanofibers/nanowires at very small diameters. Wave dispersion relations were presented in closed form, and numerical calculations were performed to show the variation of the phase velocity with the wave number at varying surface property and fiber diameter. The given results can be used as the theoretical basis of dynamic characterization of nanofibers/nanowires and nanodevice design and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]