Abstract
Breathability Enhancement of Electrospun Microfibrous Polyurethane Membranes through Pore Size Control for Outdoor Sportswear Fabric
Highlights
The fabrication of fabrics for use in various functional applications has recently become an area of interest in the clothing and sportswear industry.[1,2] The combination of breathability and water repellency, i.e., being able to release sweat from beneath the fabric while remaining waterproof to rain, is a desirable property.Fabricating a fabric with a hydrophobic surface, so that it is water-repellent, has been demonstrated using various methods, including exploiting naturally hydrophobic polymers such as polyurethane (PU),(1,2) or hydrophobic coatings, such as Sensors and Materials, Vol 27, No 1 (2015)polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).(3) Breathability is one of the most important properties for applications in outdoor sportswear
The membrane was composed of thick regions, which clearly resemble the mesh of metal wires, and sparse regions corresponding to the gaps in the mesh
We have described the fabrication of electrospun PU fabrics using metal mesh and planar aluminum foil collectors to investigate the effects of controlling the morphology of the electrospun membrane on its breathability
Summary
The fabrication of fabrics for use in various functional applications has recently become an area of interest in the clothing and sportswear industry.[1,2] The combination of breathability and water repellency, i.e., being able to release sweat from beneath the fabric while remaining waterproof to rain, is a desirable property.Fabricating a fabric with a hydrophobic surface, so that it is water-repellent, has been demonstrated using various methods, including exploiting naturally hydrophobic polymers such as polyurethane (PU),(1,2) or hydrophobic coatings, such as Sensors and Materials, Vol 27, No 1 (2015)polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).(3) Breathability is one of the most important properties for applications in outdoor sportswear. A microporous structure is necessary, as this allows passage of vapor-phase molecules. Such a microporous structure can be achieved using a facile fabrication method known as electrospinning. Electrospinning is a simple and versatile method that can be used to produce ultrafine continuous fibers by exploiting electrohydrodynamic forces. This method has been widely used to fabricate homogeneous membranelike nonwoven webs, which can be used as fabrics.[4,5,6,7] A high voltage is applied to a polymer solution that is typically stored in a syringe. As the electrospun fibers are stacked on the grounded electrode, they inevitably form a randomly oriented fibrous structure, which is porous.[10,11,12,13] the electrospinning process itself is capable of fabricating a highly porous breathable membrane, there is scope for increasing the breathability of the membrane if the random orientation of the stacked fibers can be controlled to form larger pores
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