Reinforcement of electrospun polyurethane fibers with resorcinol–formaldehyde resin

Abstract

This work reports a simple method to improve the properties of electrospun nanofibers. The procedure involves developing nanofibers using electrospinning followed by liquid infiltration to reinforce the fibers. Coating of polyurethane nanofibers (PUN) with resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) significantly improves the properties of PUN. Furthermore, the morphology of fiber interface and the properties of RF coated fibers indicate that RF resin reinforces the interface between the fibers. The method leads to improvement in mechanical properties of PUN.An improvement of about 94% and 281% in mechanical properties like tensile strength and modulus, respectively, compared to neat PUN fibers is achieved by coating with 20% wt/vol of RF solution.

Synthesis and characterization of non-invasively traceable poly(ether urethane)s for biomedical applications

“…Storage modulus (E′) analyses revealed that RPU3 with a higher IBHE content had a more elevated E′ platform. Storage modulus is frequently measured to investigate the material's stiffness, indicative of the polymeric backbone mobility [27]. An increase in Ei was observed with the improved incorporation of IBHE from RPU1 to RPU3, which can be observed in the corresponding storage modulus curves in figure 5(b).…”