Study of Electrospraying Characteristics of Polymer Solution Coating on Textile Substrate

Abstract

Electrospraying is a method of generating fine mist through electrostatic charging. It is a versatile method based on electrohydrodynamic process for forming small droplets. These droplets are highly charged. This prevents droplet coagulation and promotes self-dispersion which results in uniform coating on the target substrate. Electrospraying is inexpensive and an effective way to produce micro-scale coating. In this paper, an attempt was made to apply the electrospraying concept for coating textile surfaces. It was of interest to develop an understanding of the spraying characteristics of a polymer solution subjected to electrospraying and to determine the effect of the process parameters such as voltage, nozzle-collector distance and polymer concentration. Series of experiments were carried out employing different settings of process parameters. Thermoplastic polyurethane dissolved in tetrahydrofluran was used as a solution. The results provide some insight into selection of electrospraying parameters, and surface morphology of polymer deposition on fabric.