Characterization of Permeability of Electrospun Yarns
- Publication date
- 2013
- Publisher
Abstract
We developed a novel technique enabling
determination of the permeability
of electrospun yarns composed of hundreds of fibers. Analyzing the
wicking kinetics in a yarn-in-a-tube composite conduit, it was found
that the kinetic is very specific. The liquid was pulled by the capillary
pressure associated with the meniscus in the tube while the main resistance
comes from the yarn. Therefore, one can separate the yarn permeability
from the capillary pressure, which cannot be done in wicking experiments
with single yarns. A surface tensiometer (Cahn) was employed to collect
the data on wicking kinetics of hexadecane into the yarn-in-a-tube
conduits. Yarns from different polymers and blends were electrospun
and characterized using the proposed protocol. We showed that the
permeability of electrospun yarns can be varied in a broad range from
10<sup>β14</sup> m<sup>2</sup> to 10<sup>β12</sup> m<sup>2</sup> by changing the fiber diameter and packing density. These
results offer new applications of electrospun yarns as flexible micro-
and nanofluidic systems