Reinforcement of electrospun polyurethane fibers with resorcinol–formaldehyde resin

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AbstractThis work reports a simple method to improve the properties of electrospun nanofibers. The procedure involves developing nanofibers using electrospinning followed by liquid infiltration to reinforce the fibers. Coating of polyurethane nanofibers (PUN) with resorcinol–formaldehyde (RF) significantly improves the properties of PUN. Furthermore, the morphology of fiber interface and the properties of RF coated fibers indicate that RF resin reinforces the interface between the fibers. The method leads to improvement in mechanical properties of PUN. An improvement of about 94% and 281% in mechanical properties like tensile strength and modulus, respectively, compared to neat PUN fibers is achieved by coating with 20% wt/vol of RF solution.