Abstract
Melt electrospinning writing is a direct-writing additive manufacturing process that involves depositing a continuous, viscous and electrohydrodynamically stabilised molten jet onto a collector. Here, molten threads of medical-grade polycaprolactone (PCL) are directed towards stationary/rotating cylindrical collectors (0–6600 rpm), including very slow revolutions well below the critical translation speed (approximately 600 mm min−1) of the molten jet. In this slow-rotation region, the speed of the jet is faster than the movement of the collector and buckled/coiled fibres are produced due to compressive viscoelastic forces. The results are porous PCL tubes with wall morphologies often associated with viscoelastic liquids impinging onto a surface. The curvature of the collector affects how the fibre is deposited, with preferential fibre deposition along the axis of the cylinder. When the collector rotation speed is increased to greater than the speed of the jet, then straight fibres are produced. Such tubular structures have applications in tissue engineering. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry
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