Fabrication of Aligned Poly(L-lactide) Fibers by Electrospinning and Drawing

A new target collector was designed for taking up aligned nanofibers by electrospinning. The collector consists of a rotor around which several fins were attached for winding electrospun filaments continuously in large amounts. The alignment of the nanofibers wound on the collector was affected by the electrospinning conditions, such as the needle-to-collector distance and the applied voltage, but not by the rotation speed of the collector. At a voltage of 0.5 kV . cm(-1), about 60% of the fibers were found to be aligned within an angle of +/-5 degrees relative to the rotational direction of the collector. The fiber alignment was improved to 90% by drawing the fiber bundle 2-3 times at 110 degrees C. The drawing was also effective for crystal orientation of the fibers as revealed by WAXD. The drawn fibers show improved mechanical properties.