The influence of working distance, stirring and electrospinning time on fibre forming properties of electrospun polylactic acid for facemask layer application

Abstract

Polylactic acid (PLA) polymers are emerging as a viable alternative biodegradable polymer to fabricate a new filtration layer for facemask application; however, it is still in the early stages of development. The objectives of this study was to fabricate a PLA layer by using electrospinning process. For the fabrication of the new layer, the electrospinning parameters such as working distance, electrospinning time and solution stirring time were varied. The processing parameters were studied to identify the most suitable framework for the fabrication of the new PLA fibre mat comparable to the commercial facemask (CFM) in terms of thickness and fibre diameter. Based on the result, it was found that 9 cm working distance, 1 h of electrospinning and 48 h of solution stirring time showed the best results for uniform fibre thickness and diameter.