Determination of tensile strength of electrospun single nanofibers through modeling tensile behavior of the nanofibrous mat

The mechanical properties of polyamide-6 (PA-6) electrospun nanofibrous mat samples were tested. With the aid of the previously developed modeling software the whole tensile process was analyzed. The structural changes under the tensile process were evaluated from the modeling results and also compared to scanning electron micrographs. It was found that above a critical stress value nanofibers are slipping on one another which plays an important role together the changes in the fiber orientation during the process. With the aid of the modeling software the tensile strength of single nanofibers under ideal axial stress and ideal gripping circumstances were estimated. It was found that single nanofibers have 48% higher tensile strength than the bulk PA-6 material has. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.