The fabrication and characterization of fibers that are ultrastretchable and have metallic electrical conductivity are described. The fibers consist of a liquid metal alloy, eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn), injected into the core of stretchable hollow fibers composed of a triblock copolymer, poly[styrene‐b‐(ethylene‐co‐butylene)‐b‐styrene] (SEBS) resin. The hollow fibers are easy to mass‐produce with controlled size using commercially available melt processing methods. The fibers are similar to conventional metallic wires, but can be stretched orders of magnitude further while retaining electrical conductivity. Mechanical measurements with and without the liquid metal inside the fibers show the liquid core has a negligible impact on the mechanical properties of the fibers, which is in contrast to most conductive composite fibers. The fibers also maintain the same tactile properties with and without the metal. Electrical measurements show that the fibers increase resistance as the fiber elongates and the cross sectional area narrows. Fibers with larger diameters change from a triangular to a more circular cross‐section during stretching, which has the appeal of lowering the resistance below that predicted by theory. To demonstrate their utility, the ultrastretchable fibers are used as stretchable wires for earphones and for a battery charger and perform as well as their conventional parts.

A comprehensive exposition of micro-and nanofiber forming, this text provides a unified framework of the relevant processes (melt-and solution blowing, electrospinning, etc.) and describes their foundations, development, and applications. It provides an up-to-date, in-depth physical and mathematical treatment, and discusses a wide variety of applications in different fields, including nonwovens, energy, healthcare, and the military. It further highlights the challenges and outstanding issues from the perspective of an interdisciplinary basic science and technology, incorporating both fundamentals and applications. Ideal for researchers, engineers, and graduate students interested in formation of microand nanofibers and their use in functional smart materials.

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This paper addresses the development of an image analysis technique using the Fourier transform of the image to evaluate orientation in a fibrous assembly. The algorithms are evaluated using simulated images presented in Part I of the series. The results are compared with those for the tracking method presented in Part II.

Development of tissue-engineered bone constructs has recently focused on the use of electrospun composite scaffolds seeded with stem cells from various source tissues. In this study, we fabricated electrospun composite scaffolds consisting of beta-tricalcium phosphate (TCP) crystals and poly(L-lactic acid) (PLA) at varying loading levels of TCP (0, 5, 10, 20 wt%) and assessed the composite scaffolds' material properties and ability to induce proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) in the presence of osteogenic differentiating medium. The electrospun scaffolds all exhibited a nonwoven structure with an interconnected porous network. With the addition of TCP, the fiber diameter increased with each treatment ranging from 503.39 +/- 20.31 nm for 0 wt% TCP to 1267.36 +/- 59.03 nm for 20 wt% TCP. Tensile properties of the composite scaffolds were assessed and the overall tensile strength of the neat scaffold (0 wt% TCP) was 847 +/- 89.43 kPA; the addition of TCP significantly decreased this value to an average of 350.83 +/- 38.57 kPa. As the electrospun composite scaffolds degraded in vitro, TCP was released into the medium with the largest release occurring within the first 6 days. Human ASCs were able to adhere, proliferate and osteogenically differentiate on all scaffold combinations. DNA content increased in a temporal manner for each scaffold over 18 days in culture although for the day 12 timepoint, the 10 wt% TCP scaffold induced the greatest hASC proliferation. Endogenous alkaline phosphatase activity was enhanced on the composite PLA/TCP scaffolds compared to the PLA control particularly by day 18. It was noted that at the highest TCP loading levels of 10 and 20 wt%, there was a dramatic increase in the amount of cell-mediated mineralization compared to the 5 wt% TCP and the neat PLA scaffold. This work suggests that local environment cues provided by the biochemical nature of the scaffold can accelerate the overall osteogenic differentiation of hASCs and encourage rapid ossification.