What is Forcespinning™ Technology?

Figure 2 shows the schematic diagram of Cyclone L – 1000M system. This lab scale system has integrated solution spinning and melt spinning capability. Therefore, this system was used to fabricate both solution spun Nylon 6 nanofibers and melt spun Polypropylene nanofibers. For solution spinning, 20 wt% of Nylon 6 solution was spun at 7,000 rpm with a solution spinneret fitted with 30 G needle size at both ends for a time cycle of 1 minute (Figure 3(a)). Figure 3(b) shows the morphology of the Nylon 6 nanofibers collected under present experimental setup. The average diameter was found to be 190 + 84 nm. Fiber size distribution is plotted in Figure 3 (c). In the case of melt spinning, Polypropylene was melted inside a proprietary designed melt spinneret with the set of heater rings by applying radiant heat. Once the desired melting temperature of polymer was achieved, melt spinning was carried out at 12,000 rpm for 30 second time cycle (Figure 4(a)). The spinneret and heating system on Cyclone L – 1000 M is designed to withstand high temperature of up to 450 C.  For this study, melt spinning was carried out at 225 C. The corresponding fiber morphology of melt spun Polypropylene and fiber diameter distribution is shown in Figure 4 (b) and Figure 4(c).