Process Optimization of Mechano-Electrospinning by Response Surface Methodology

In this paper, mechano-electrospinning (MES) is presented to write the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) solution into fibers directly, and the effects of the process parameters on the fiber are investigated experimentally based on response surface methodology. The different width of the fiber is obtained by adjusting the individual process parameters (velocity of the substrate, applied voltage and nozzle-to-substrate distance). Considering the continuous jet and stable Taylor-cone, the operation field is selected for investigating the complicated relationship between the process parameters on the width of the fiber by using the response surface methodology. The experiment results show that the predicted width of the fiber is in good agreement with the actual width of the fiber. Based on the analysis of the importance of the terms in the equation, a simple model can be used to predict the width of the fiber. Depending on this model, a large number of calibration experiments can be subducted. Additionally, the principle of the selection of the process parameters is presented by optimizing parameters, which can give a guideline for obtaining the desired fiber in the experiment.