Synthesis of polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) fibers using needleless electrospinning technique with straight wire electrode

Abstract

Low production rate has become a major problem for conventional electrospinning method that uses a needle as the single route for the ejected solution. Multi-needles have then been employed to overcome the problem, but there is a primary problem in its process. The needleless electrospinning method can be used to make nanofiber. There are several types of electrodes on needleless electrospinning methods, such as the cylinder, spiral and wire electrodes. In this research, the straight wire electrode was utilized to synthesize polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) fibers. Several process parameters were varied such as polymer solution concentration, voltage, and wire-collector distance. The results have shown that polymer solution concentration and wire-collector distance affected the fibers morphology, while the voltage did not significantly affect a diameter of fibers. The higher the polymer solution concentration, the average diameter of fibers became bigger. On the other hand, the average diameter of fibers decreased with increasing the wire-collector distance.