Production and characterization of polycaprolactone nanofibers via forcespinning™ technology

Among the myriad of methods for polymer nanofiber production, there are only a few methods that can produce submicron range fibers in bulk from melt or solution samples. The Forcespinning (TM) method allows a substantial increase in sample yield while simultaneously maintaining the integrity of uniform fibers in the nanometer range. The high production yield of such a method greatly reduces the time needed to produce bulk quantities of fibers which may be critical in many fields of research and industry, in particularly in fields relating to biopolymers. The aim of this study was to use this method to form nonwoven mats of polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers and to quantitatively analyze the production and characterization of the produced fibers. The bulk PCL was dissolved in dichloromethane and the solutions were forcespun at varying speeds ranging from 3000 to 9000 rpm. It was observed that fiber diameter decreased with increasing rotational speed. The average fiber diameter at 9000 rpm was 220 nm with a standard deviation of +/- 98 nm. The morphology and degree of crystallinity were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012