Abstract
Polystyrene (PS) polymers have broad applications in protective packaging for food shipping, containers, lids, bottles, trays, tumblers, disposable cutlery and the making of models. Currently, most PS products, such as foams, are not accepted for recycling due to a low density in the porous structure. This poses a challenge for logistics as well as creating a lack of incentive to invest in high-value products. This study, however, demonstrated the use of a dry-jet wet-spinning technique to manufacture continuous PS fibers enabled by an in-house designed and developed spinning apparatus. The manufactured fibers showed porosity in the shell and the capability to load particles in their core, a structure with high potential use in environmentally relevant applications such as water treatment or CO2 collections. A two-phase liquid-state microstructure was first achieved via a co-axial spinneret. Following coagulation procedures and heat treatment, phase-separation-based selective dissolution successfully generated the porous-shell/particle-core fibers. The pore size and density were controlled by the porogen (i.e., PEG) concentrations and examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Fiber formation dynamics were studied via rheology tests and gelation measurements. The shell components were characterized by tensile tests, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry for mechanical durability and thermal stability analyses.
Highlights
Polymer fibers have traditionally been used in industries, such as textile [1], telecommunication [2], biomedical [3], construction [4], and electronics [5] industries, among many others
Careful consideration was given to the selection of two different polymers, which could (a) allow the blended polymer mixtures to coagulate in the non-solvent to form fibers so that during the solvent/non-solvent exchanging process, the blended polymer solutions can transform from solution-state liquid to gel-state fiber precursors, selectively dissolve the porogen in a solvent to create pores, evenly distribute particles in the hollow cores, simultaneously avoid losing particles from the constructed porous surfaces or hollow centers
PS spheres (PSs) [47] and polyethylene glycol (PEG) [48] were used as material examples, as both can be dissolved in a common solvent without phase separations
Summary
Polymer fibers have traditionally been used in industries, such as textile [1], telecommunication [2], biomedical [3], construction [4], and electronics [5] industries, among many others. Based on the nature of the polymer and additional fillers, the properties of bicomponent fibers such as mechanical stiffness/strength [14], electrical/thermal conductivity [15,16], optical reflectivity/absorbance [17], self-healing/-cleaning [18], and other stimuli-response behaviors can be altered These properties can be used to a) isolate an unstable component thereby reducing the chance of decomposition under a reactive or extreme environment (e.g., water treatment); b) release core materials with controlled rates to a particular receptor (e.g., drug delivery); and c) increase the mechanical durability or integrity for functional behaviors (e.g., multiphase composites), as well as, (d) various other applications for sensing or actuating (e.g., smart sensors and soft robotics)
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