Electrospinning Equipment: Thermally stretched mechanically reinforced silk fibers

Performance characteristics and improvement methods of silk fibers

Silk fibers are known for their excellent mechanical properties, renewability, biocompatibility, tunable biodegradability, and industrial-scale production capabilities. However, the tensile strength of silk is lower than that of high-performance synthetic fibers such as Kevlar and nylon. In order to improve the performance of silk fibers, researchers have explored a variety of methods, among which the hot stretching process is a simple and scalable strategy. Through hot stretching treatment, the β-folded nanocrystal content and crystal orientation of silk fibers are increased, thereby significantly improving their mechanical properties. For example, the average Young's modulus of hot-stretched silk fibers (HSSFs) reaches 21.6±2.8 GPa, which is about twice that of natural silk fibers (11.0±1.7 GPa).

Application of electrospinning equipment in the preparation of silk fibers

Preparation of nanofiber structures: Electrospinning equipment is able to produce uniform continuous fibers with diameters ranging from nanometers to micrometers. These nanofibers can be used to construct a variety of high-performance silk-based materials, such as scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Regulating fiber morphology and arrangement: By adjusting the parameters in the electrospinning process (such as spinning solution concentration, viscosity, electric field strength, etc.), the diameter and morphology of the fiber can be precisely controlled. This allows the arrangement and orientation of silk-based nanofibers to be precisely regulated, thereby optimizing the performance and application effects of the material.

Loading bioactive substances: Electrospinning equipment can prepare nanofibers loaded with bioactive molecules. For example, growth factors and drugs that promote cell growth and differentiation are loaded into silk-based nanofibers, and the release rate is controlled to achieve the continuous effect of bioactive substances in biomedical application sites.

Summary and Outlook

The performance improvement of silk fibers has made it possible for them to achieve a wider range of applications, and electrospinning equipment plays an important role in the preparation of silk fibers, and can prepare nanofibers with excellent structure and performance. Future research can further optimize material selection and spinning process parameters, improve the performance of silk-based materials, and promote their wide application in biomedicine, structural materials, and smart textiles.

Electrospinning Nanofibers Article Source:

https://doi.org/10.34133/2022/9854063