Solution Blow Spinning of High-Performance Submicron Polyvinylidene Fluoride Fibres: Computational Fluid Mechanics Modelling and Experimental Results

Atif, Rasheed; Combrinck, Madeleine; Khaliq, Jibran; Hassanin, Ahmed H.; Shehata, Nader; Elnabawy, Eman; Shyha, Islam

Abstract

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to investigate characteristics of high-speed air as it is expelled from a solution blow spinning (SBS) nozzle using a k-ε turbulence model. Air velocity, pressure, temperature, turbulent kinetic energy and density contours were generated and analysed in order to achieve an optimal attenuation force for fibre production. A bespoke convergent nozzle was used to produce polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) fibres at air pressures between 1 and 5 bar. The nozzle comprised of four parts: a polymer solution syringe holder, an air inlet, an air chamber, and a cap that covers the air chamber. A custom-built SBS setup was used to produce PVDF submicron fibres which were consequently analysed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) for their morphological features. Both theoretical and experimental observations showed that a higher air pressure (4 bar) is more suitable to achieve thin fibres of PVDF. However, fibre diameter increased at 5 bar and intertwined ropes of fibres were also observed.

Citation

Atif, R., Combrinck, M., Khaliq, J., Hassanin, A. H., Shehata, N., Elnabawy, E., & Shyha, I. (2020). Solution Blow Spinning of High-Performance Submicron Polyvinylidene Fluoride Fibres: Computational Fluid Mechanics Modelling and Experimental Results. Polymers, 12(5), Article 1140. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12051140

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 8, 2020
• Online Publication Date: May 16, 2020
• Publication Date: May 16, 2020
• Deposit Date: Oct 2, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 2, 2020
• Journal: Polymers
• Electronic ISSN: 2073-4360
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 5
• Article Number: 1140
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12051140
• Keywords: CFD; SBS; nozzle; PVDF; fibres
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2686001