A Review on Centrifugally Spun Fibers and Their Applications

Centrifugally spun poly(ethylene oxide) fibers rival the properties of electrospun fibers

“…Fundamental research in electrospinning (ES) and centrifugal force spinning (CFS) is driven by the technological need to produce fibers and nonwoven structures from specialized ingredients, or tackle application needs not addressed using conventional materials and spinning technologies. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Examples include high surface area, controlled mesh-like nonwoven structures for on-demand deployment in applications ranging from wound dressing and tissue engineering, 2,3,7-9 separation and filtration, 10,11 energy storage and production, 12,13 food processing, [14][15][16] and most recently, to create masks to prevent air-borne infections. 17 ES relies on electrostatic forces to draw a Taylor cone from a pendant droplet of a viscoelastic, polymeric liquid, and turn the cone into a liquid jet that undergoes drawing and thinning via whipping (and other) instabilities.…”

“…3,[5][6][7][8][18][19][20][21] In contrast, in CFS, a spiraling liquid jet ejected from a fast rotating spinneret or nozzle under the influence of centrifugal forces, undergoes drawing and thinning during its timeof-flight, t flight to a collector. 2,3,[6][7][8][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] In both cases, the final draw ratio and the fiber diameter additionally depend on the crystallization and solidification processes that transform a liquid (solution or melt) jet to a solid filament over a timescale t jf that needs to be shorter than t flight . CFS has been reinvented many times since its inception with various names like centrifugal spinning, forcespinning, cotton candy method, rotary jet spinning and rotary spinning, 2,3,[6][7][8]13,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] to make cotton candy, fiberglass, microfibers, polymeric fibers from solutions and melts, and composite fibers.…”

“…2,3,[6][7][8][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] In both cases, the final draw ratio and the fiber diameter additionally depend on the crystallization and solidification processes that transform a liquid (solution or melt) jet to a solid filament over a timescale t jf that needs to be shorter than t flight . CFS has been reinvented many times since its inception with various names like centrifugal spinning, forcespinning, cotton candy method, rotary jet spinning and rotary spinning, 2,3,[6][7][8]13,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] to make cotton candy, fiberglass, microfibers, polymeric fibers from solutions and melts, and composite fibers. Extensive experimental and theoretical studies of ES have explored the influence of polymer, solvent, and other additives (particles, cells, surfactants, and drugs), processing conditions, and postspinning operations like annealing on spinnability, fiber morphology and mechanical properties.…”

“…Among the alternatives, we picked CFS as our technique of choice as it offers relatively high production rates with a comparatively simple set-up that does not require a specialized environment, high voltage, or specialized material (conductivity) properties. [2][3][4][21][22][23][24][25]31 Several reviews and research articles discuss the relative merits of both ES and CFS, and though many studies highlight the higher production rate as a distinct advantage of centrifugal force spinning, [2][3][4]12,[23][24][25][31][32][33] comparisons of crystallinity and mechanical properties of fibers and fiber mats are nearly nonexistent. We noticed only two studies 37,38 used differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to obtain crystallinity for nylon and regenerated silk and found comparable values for electrospun and centrifugally-spun fibers.…”

“…We contrast crystallinity, tensile strength and modulus, and elongation-at-break with the corresponding values reported in literature for electrospun PEO fibers. We picked PEO as the model polymer inspired by many existing fundamental studies of fiber formation and properties, 2,4,8,12,13,18,21,24,27,29,33,34,40,[44][45][46][47][48][49] and our extensive prior characterization of the shear and extensional rheology response of aqueous PEO solutions. [50][51][52][53] Fibers formed by PEO alone, using PEO to enhance spinnability, or containing PEO blended with other polymers, particles, or proteins, are suitable for biomedical (e.g., drug delivery, antimicrobial filters), energy and digital electronics (e.g., battery separators, photovoltaics), and environmental applications.…”