Abstract
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) waste has been successfully recycled into nanofiber membranes by an electrospinning method for air filter applications. The ABS precursor solutions were made by dissolving the ABS waste in three different solvents, DMAc, DMF, and THF, with various concentrations of 10, 20, and 30 wt%. The solvent and solution concentrations affected the fiber properties (size and morphology) and membrane properties (wettability, crystallinity, and mechanical). Accordingly, we tested the fabricated membranes using SEM, FTIR, XRD, water contact angle, and tensile strength test measurements. The SEM images depicted three different morphologies, i.e. beads, beaded fibers, and pure fibers. The FTIR spectra showed that the solvents completely evaporated during the electrospinning process. The water contact angle test exhibited the hydrophobic properties of all the membrane samples. The XRD spectra showed the amorphous structures of all the membranes. The tensile strength test showed that the membranes fabricated using DMF and DMAc solvents had the best mechanical properties. Considering the fiber size, wettability, and mechanical properties, the membranes fabricated using DMAc and DMF solvents had the best criteria as air filter media. Filtration tests on the membranes fabricated using DMAc and DMF solvents with various solution concentrations depicted that the beads affected the membrane pressure drop and efficiency. The beads gave more space among the fibers, which facilitated the air flow through the membrane. The beads greatly reduced the pressure drop without an overly reduced membrane filtration efficiency. This led to a high-quality factor of the membranes that demonstrated their applicability as potential air filter media.
Highlights
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is one of the most successful engineered thermoplastic polymers, and is formed from the reaction of three monomers, namely acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene.[1,2] ABS has excellent mechanical properties, dimensional stability, and resistance to chemicals
We studied the effect of the ABS solution concentration and the type of solvents (DMF, DMAc, and THF) on the fabricated nano ber morphology and diameter
The results showed that the ABS membrane fabricated using the DMAc solvent with a concentration of 20 wt% had a beaded ber morphology and the best ltration performance with the lowest pressure drop and highest quality factor value
Summary
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is one of the most successful engineered thermoplastic polymers, and is formed from the reaction of three monomers, namely acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene.[1,2] ABS has excellent mechanical properties, dimensional stability, and resistance to chemicals. We used incense smoke as the test particle.[16] The results showed that the ABS membrane fabricated using the DMAc solvent with a concentration of 20 wt% had a beaded ber morphology and the best ltration performance with the lowest pressure drop and highest quality factor value. This result shows the great potential of the ABS waste membranes for their application in masks and air lters. Solvent is important in the electrospinning process because it directly affects the solution properties (viscosity, conductivity, and surface tension) as well as the fabricated nano ber membrane properties
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