Electrospinning of continuous nanofiber hollow yarns for thermal storage and insulation by a multi-step twisting method

Abstract

In this study, phase change nanofiber hollow yarns were designed. The hollow yarn structure is proposed due to its ability to provide insulation for fabrics, while the phase change material is added due to its capacity to store thermal energy. These yarns are developed by utilizing the classical covering–dissolving strategy, which uses a modified multi-step twisting method. The effects of twisting and winding speed on the yarn morphology, structure, mechanical and heat storage properties are discussed. It is observed that the ultrafine fibers for yarn fabrication are about 100–400 nm in diameter. Their yarn products then undergo obvious shape deformation in the process of hollowing, resulting in a nanofiber hollow yarn with yarn diameter of around 250 µm. To obtain target yarns with desirable structure and strength, the recommended twisting and winding speed should be within 200–260 rpm and 1.2–1.6 rpm, respectively. Their tensile strength and elongation at break under these conditions are tested to be about 30–40 MPa and 20%, respectively, which is acceptable for further weaving. As for the heat storage capacity, it is somewhat weakened but still considerable (20–30 kJ·kg–1) within the temperature range of 30–40℃. By coupling air and phase change materials together, the resultant nanofiber hollow yarns and their fabric products proved to have better heat storage and insulation performance, and may have broad prospects for thermal regulation.

Pattern Design of Ethnic Clothing Based on Stretchable Nanofiber Fabrics

“…Traditional court patterns are mostly compositional combinations, with complex backgrounds and detailed depictions of local subjects. It can be seen that the color features and texture features of ethnic patterns are less distinguishable, while the local features and shape features provide richer visual information [13].…”

New Research Trends for Textiles

“…A solid-solid phase transition was observed in the 25-30 • C physiological temperature range. Phase change nanofiber hollow yarns have been prepared to provide both thermoregulation and thermal insulation [221]. Poly(meta-phenylene isophthalamide)/fatty acid ester PCM nanofibers were simultaneously electrospun and wrapped around a rotating polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) yarn using a twisting funnel.…”

The preparation of polypropylene microfiber yarns via vortex airflow‐assisted melt differential electrospinning

“…If the fiber diameter is reduced to the micro-nanometer level, the specific surface area of the yarns increases, leading to a greater number of surface functional sites. 7,8 Through material modification and yarn structure design, PP micro-nano fiber yarns are expected to find applications in high-value fields such as flexible smart fabrics, 9,10 moisture and heat management fabrics, 11,12 and biomedical textiles. 13,14 The primary techniques for producing ultrafine PP fibers include melt blowing, solution electrospinning, sea Haoyi Li and Weimin Yang are co-corresponding author.…”