Stretching of the steady jet in electrospinning: Theoretical analysis and experimental verification

With the rapid development of electrospinning, how to control the spinning drawing process is becoming increasingly important. It is significant to establish a complete formula for the fiber drafting process. This paper presents a complete theoretical equation r = c₁nkⁿ/Qe₀b_i.z-0.5 + c₂ between radius r of the jet and the axial distance z in the steady stage in electrospinning. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) aqueous solution with different PVA concentrations and with various LiCl contents was used to validate the theoretical predicted equation. The relationship between radius r of the jet and the axial distance z in steady stage was in the form r ∼ z^-0.5. Moreover, two important equations r ∼ k^-0.11 (the relationship between conductivity and jet radius) and η ∼ C^3.79053 (the relationship between the solution viscosity and concentration) were obtained during the experiments. The results agreed well with our predicted equation.