Rapid polymer fiber airbrushing: Impact of a device design on the fiber fabrication and matrix quality

Abstract

ABSTRACTPolymer fiber matrixes can be used in a variety of applications, including electronics, tissue engineering, or coatings. Polymer airbrushing (air‐blast spinning) has the potential to overcome some of the limitations of electrospinning and has the advantage of depositing nanofibers directly on various materials. The airbrushing technique has yet to be better evaluated and optimized to achieve a higher fiber reproducibility and bulk material quality. In this study, a gravity‐fed brush (commercial airbrush) and syringe‐pump‐operated brush [custom‐built airbrush (CBA)] were compared to determine the effect of the coaxial brush design on the efficacy of fiber fabrication. At comparable fiber deposition rates, gas pressures, and polymer concentrations, the CBA produced smaller and more uniform fibers with a lower average size of polymer beads. The obtained data suggest that capillary pinching was the dominant mechanism responsible for fiber formation when we used the CBA. The estimated pinching energy was lower for the CBA at the compared polymer concentrations and at a high gas pressure. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42813.