Frictional Properties of Electrospun Polyurethane Nanofiber Web

Abstract

Electrospun nanofiber webs are of increasing interest for a variety of functional goods, not only textiles. The mechanical strength of these nanofiber webs must be evaluated to estimate the effect of rubbing against other fabrics and human skin. Therefore, we analyzed the frictional behavior of polyurethane (PU) nanofiber web against various fabrics and against artificial skin sheets. The present results are summarized as follows:1) The mean friction coefficient of the PU nanofiber web was independent of the load.2) Nanofiber web showed stick-slip motion, the frequency depending on the mating material and applied load.3) The highest observed mean friction coefficients were 0.8 and 0.83 for silk and Flexcare®, respectively, and the lowest were 0.53 to 0.54 for Lorica® and silicone rubber, respectively.

Keywords

• tribology
• friction
• nanofiber web
• electrospinning
• polyurethane