The electrospinning of less common polyamides via direct and alternating current

Abstract

This paper presents a method for direct and alternating current electrospinning of polymeric solutions of three less common polyamides (nylons). Homopolyamide PA 8, heteropolyamide PA 6|9 and semi-aromatic amide (phthalamide) PA 6(3)T were dissolved in the formic acid and dichloromethane mixture, which have proved to be a suitable solvent for various other linear polyamides. The dependence of the viscosity, electrical conductivity, and spinnability via the direct (DC) and alternating current (AC) technology on the solution concentration was observed. Scanning electron microscope images of the prepared nanofibers were acquired and consequently analyzed for fiber defects, followed by measuring the fiber diameters. The differences in the nanofiber quality of DC layers and AC plumes were discussed. Finally, the optimal concentrations for the electrospinning of the examined solutions were determined. The communication follows our previous work and extends the number of electrospinnable polyamides, thus facilitating future research in this area.

Keywords

• industrial applications
• polymer synthesis
• electrospinning
• polyamide
• nanomaterials