The use of novel digital image analysis technique and rheological tools to characterize nanofiber nonwovens

Abstract

A B S T R A C TPolyurethane (PU) solved in dimethylformamide (DMF) was electrospun under one set of conditions using five different supporting textiles. The mechanical properties of the nanofiber mats were measured by the Sentmanat extensional rheometer, and the pore size distribution was calculated by a newly proposed digital image analysis methodology applied on nanoscale SEM images taking macroscopic features of the nonwovens into account. It has been found that supporting textiles have a very high effect on mechanical properties of nanofiber mats (even if their fiber diameter distributions are similar), which can be explained by different porosity of the prepared samples.

3D modeling of filtration process via polyurethane nanofiber based nonwoven filters prepared by electrospinning process

“…2. The obtained SEM picture has consequently been used for the fiber diameter/pore size distribution determination using recently proposed digital image analysis technique (Sambaer et al, 2010). The obtained basic characteristics for the analyzed filter samples are summarized in Fig.…”

“…During the past decades, significant progress has been done in the area of filtration science and technology (Andrady, 2008;Hosseini and Tafreshi, 2010a, b;Fotovati et al, 2010;Sambaer et al, 2010;Ashari and Tafreshi, 2009;Tafreshi et al, 2009;Zobel et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2006aWang et al, , b, 2007Maze et al, 2007;McNenly et al, 2005;Pich, 1966;Li and Ahmadi, 1992;Ounis and Ahmadi, 1990;Ounis et al, 1991;Altmann and Ripperger, 1997;Rubin, 1977;Brown, 1993;Thomas and Yoder, 1956;Sinclair, 1970), which follows increased needs of many advanced industries dealing with electronics, medical, pharmaceutical and biology to maintain clean room manufacturing environments (Andrady, 2008;Brown, 1993). Nanofiber mats, having fiber diameter typically in order of tens and hundred nanometers, are very well suited for air filtration because low solidity and acceptable mechanical strength can be obtained.…”

3D Air Filtration Modeling for Nanofiber Based Filters in the Ultrafine Particle Size Range

“…Liberec, Czech Republic, http://www.elmarco.com/) [8][9] equipped with patented rotating electrode with 3 cotton cords spinning elements (PCT/CZ2010/000042). The experimental conditions were as follows: relative humidity 25%, temperature 24°C, electric voltage applied into PU solution 75 kV, distance between electrodes 210 mm, rotational electrode speed 7 rpm and speed of supporting textile collecting nanofibers was 0.32 m.min -1 .…”

Morphology of Nano and Micro Fiber Structures in Ultrafine Particles Filtration

“…The obtained SEM pictures have consequently been used for the determination of fibre diameter, nanofibre layer thickness and fibre diameter/pore size distribution by using recently proposed digital image analysis technique [4][5][6].…”

“…For this assessment carried out on actual nanofibre structures produced we used recently proposed digital analysis of SEM images [4][5][6]. The analysis was based on an examination of the change in richness of grey halftones caused by a change in the thickness of nanofibre nonwoven textiles.…”