Investigation of effect of ambient parameters on electrospun nanofiber morphology

In this study, effect of ambient parameters (temperature and relative humidity) on morphology of nanofibers which were produced from three different polymers polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and polyamide 6 (PA6) was investigated. Four different temperature values (10˚C- 40˚C, by 10˚C intervals) and for each temperature value seven different relative humidity (20% - 80%, by 10% intervals) were used. Voltage, feedrate, tip-collector distance and solution concentration were defined for each material separately with the help of previous studies in literature and held constant during electrospinning process. After electrospinning, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to examine the nanofiber diameter and morphology. Diameter of nanofibers was measured by using image analyze programme. Experimental results showed that fiber morphology (diameter, uniformity and bead formation) was affected considerably by ambient parameters (temperature and relative humidity).