Electrospinning of PLA and PLA/POSS nanofibers: Use of Taguchi optimization for process parameters

Abstract

It is known that electrospinning is the most practical technique to obtain unique nanofibrous structures, such as neat PLA (polylactide) and PLA filled with POSS (Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane) particles. On the other hand, due to the so many different process parameters to consider, production of these fibers are extremely difficult and time consuming. That is, use of a certain statistical optimization technique in the design of experiments would be necessary. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to determine the optimum electrospinning parameters by applying the Taguchi technique first to neat PLA and then to reveal the applicability of these parameters for the electrospinning of PLA/POSS nanofibers. It was observed that instead of conducting 81 experiments to determine the most significant four optimum process parameters for PLA, use of Taguchi L 9 orthogonal array experiment matrix, that is, conducting only nine experiments, reduced time, labor and material consumption considerably. For the smallest electrospun PLA fiber diameter, the optimum parameters determined were; "PLA solution concentration" of 8% w/v, "solution feeding rate" of 1.8 mL/h, "needle-to-collector distance" of 18 cm, and "applied voltage" of 15 kV. Moreover, it was generally concluded that these same parameters could be also used for the electrospinning of PLA/POSS nanofibers after addition of only 3 wt% KCl salt into the polymer solution.

Preparation and characterization of PLA‐lemon essential oil nanofibrous membranes for the preservation of Mongolian cheese

“…This was because the overall viscosity of the polylactic acid solution was too high, which will correspondingly increase the surface tension of the spinning solution. When the needle jet the spinning fluid fast, fiber has not been fully stretched, resulting in the phenomenon of bending and entanglement (Meyva‐Zeybek & Kaynak, 2021). As shown in Figure 1a–d, all samples showed randomly oriented nanofibers, and their diameters were found to be affected by LEO content.…”

Biobased Multifunctional Poly(lactic acid) Nanofiber Membranes for Efficient Personal Thermal Management

“…The obtained solution was subjected to electrospinning. Due to the significant impact of environmental temperature and humidity on the electrospinning process, the ambient temperature is controlled at 27 °C, and the relative humidity is controlled at 40%. − …”

Aggressive Impacts Affecting the Biodegradable Ultrathin Fibers Based on Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate), Polylactide and Their Blends: Water Sorption, Hydrolysis and Ozonolysis

“…Finally, hydrolysis of nano-structured fibrillar PHB/PLA composites has been considered in an extremely limited number of works [ 21 , 37 , 44 , 45 , 46 ]. Please note that all the above references are only for hydrolytic degradation cases and do not include enzymatic or cell biodegradation, where more progress has been made [ 34 , 47 , 48 ]. The phenomenological consideration of the consequences of aqueous hydrolysis of PHB/PLA fibrillar blends, and pristine biopolymer fibers and mats are presented in this section.…”