Courses

Course: Nanofiber Production and Applications Fundamentals

Area:
Nanotechnology

Instructor:
Assoc. Prof. Stanislav Petrík, PhD

Course Overview

The following planned courses are designed for professionals with an engineering, technical or textile degree or 1-3 years experience with engineered fabrics.

The courses are designed to teach fundamentals of the electrospinning and alternate methods for the production of high quality nonwoven-structured nanofiber layers relevant to many applications (filtration and separation, biomedicine, composites, catalysis, functional fabrics, etc.).

Learn about the raw materials, technologies, tests and evaluations used to create end-use products. You will gain insight into the industry with market forecasts and learn more about the significant role these materials will play in the engineered fabrics and other industries.

Please contact us for more details or general inquiries.

Who should attend:

Anyone involved in the nonwovens business who needs to understand the electrospinning process and applications of nanofiber materials.

• Students
• R&D staff
• Manufacturing Managers
• Product Development
• Production Supervisors
• Maintenance and Plant Engineers
• Technical Sales & Marketing
• Process Engineers
• Quality Control

What you will learn:

• Learn about polymer properties and fiber formation
• Gain an understanding of polymers used in electrospinning from both solvents and melts
• Gain an understanding of nozzle and nozzle-less electrospinning processes
• Learn about composite materials with unique properties
• Learn about the post-processing methods leading to new ceramic nanofiber materials
• Learn about nonwoven related nanofiber end products – why to use nanofibers in
  – air and liquid filters
  – hygiene products
  – wound care materials
  – protective garments
  – sound absorption
  – solar cells
  – batteries
  – fuel cells
  – catalysis
• Test and evaluate nanofiber materials

Lecture Outline

Series 1

• Lecture NF_A1 Nanofiber Potential Applications
  – Duration 2 hours
  – Air and Liquid Filters
  – Wound Care
  – Sound management
  – Solar/Fuel cells and batteries
  – Bioseparation
  – Barrier materials 
• Lecture NF_A2 Air Filtration Theory
  – Duration 1 hour 
• Lecture NF_A3 Liquid Filtration Theory
  – Duration 1 hour

Series 2

• Lecture NF_B1 Fiber Formation and Property Development
  – Duration 1.5 hour
  – Spinning Process
  – Molecular Orientation
  – Carrot Spinning Model
  – Throughput and Denier Effects
  – Fiber Quenching 
• Lecture NF_B2 Introduction to Meltblowing and Spunbonding
  – Duration 1 hour
  – Process description
  – Material properties and performance 
• Lecture NF_B3 Structure Process Property Relationships
  – Duration 1.5 hours
  – Structure (ODF) etc
  – Polymers
  – Bicomponent Fiber Formation
  – Limits of fiber size

Series 3

Lecture NF_C1 Introduction to Electrospinning

• Duration 1 hour
• History
• Electrospinning with Nozzles
• Nozzle-less Electrospinning

Melt blow and Spun Bonding Laboratory

• Duration 3 hours
• Meltblowing Experiment 1
  – Hold conditions constant change grams per hole minute
  – Air flow median and constant
• Meltblowing Experiment 2
  – Hold grams per hole minute at median
  – Change air flow
• Spunbonding Experiment 3
  – Produce one Islands in the sea count
• Hydroentangling Experiment 4
  – Hydroentangle Islands in sea sample and pre made samples at various counts
  – Nominal Hydro pressure
• Hydroentangling Experiment 5
  – Use sample produced in Experiment 3
  – Run Hydro pressure series
• Composite Production Experiment 6
  – Produce composite with meltblown and spunbonded fabric via Hydroentangling
• Retain key samples for later characterization

Series 4

• Lecture NF_D1 Theoretical Fundamentals of Electrospinning
  – Duration 1.5 hour
  – Physical requirements for polymers
  – Nozzle to free surface spinning
  – Polymers
  – Solvent systems
  – Melts 
• Lecture NF_D2 Fundamentals of Electrospinning Equipment Design
  – Duration 1.5 hour
  – Process Variables
  – Product Metrics
  – Geometry
  – Materials
  – Safety Issues 
• Lecture NF_D3 Ceramic Nanofibers
  – Duration 1 hour
  – Basic technology
  – Properties of Inorganic Nanofibers
  – Use of Inorganic Nanofibers

Series 5

Activity 1 Laboratory production of nanofibers

• Duration 2.5 hours
• Polymer solution preparation
• Electrospinning of samples
• Samples for evaluation in Session 6

Series 6

• Lecture NF_E1 Principals of Particle Size Measurement
  – Duration 1 Hour
  – TSI equipment 
• Evaluation Lab
  – Duration 2 hours
  – Samples produced during course evaluated 
• Lab report preparation and course discussion
  – Duration 0.5 hour