THE INFLUENCE OF ALOEVERA CONCENTRATION ON MORPHOLOGY AND TENSILE PROPERTIES OF ELECTROSPUN ALOEVERA-PVA NANOFIBER

Abstract

THEINFLUENCEOFALOEVERACONCENTRATIONONMORPHOLOGYANDTENSILE PROPERTIESOFELECTROSPUNALOEVERA-PVANANOFIBER.AloeVera (AV)-poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) electrospinning solution with 0%, 2%, 4%and 6%AV concentrations were electrospun to explore the influence of AV concentration on the morphology and tensile properties of the nanofibers membranes. The results showed that the change in the morphology and tensile properties of electrospun AV-PVA nanofibers depends uponAVconcentration of electrospinning solution.Mean fiber diameter at 2%(342 ? 0.8 nm) and 4% (337 ? 0.6 nm) AV concentrations is smaller than that at 0% (377 ? 1.1 nm) and 6% (810 ? 3.4 nm) AV concentrations with relatively uniform size distribution. Tensile strength and modulus atAV concentration of 2%(5.74MPa and 33.99MPa) and 4%(6.38MPa and 34.75MPa) are higher than that at 0%(4.98MPa and 26.45 MPa) and 6% (2.22 MPa and 13.69 MPa), respectively. AV-PVA electrospinning solution with AV concentration ranging from2%to 4%is considered being the optimumrange that could produce the electrospun nanofibers with the tensile properties included in the range of that specified by the native skin