What is multi-needle electrospinning?
Electrospinning is a heavily researched field with a wide variety of potential applications. Researchers have been able to formulate thousands of novel materials with this technology. Because of their unique properties, electrospun materials that fulfill a niche application can often be sold for over a hundred times the cost of the raw materials, potentially leading to incredibly profitable operations. However, before a newly developed material can change the world, it needs to be produced in a volume that is commensurate to its potential demand.
Single needle electrospinning configurations are excellent for research efforts, where small amounts of material are being produced for characterization and analysis. Once a promising formulation and settings have been identified, it is time to move to a multi-needle electrospinning configuration. Multi-needle arrays can enable a significant increase in volume throughput as well as improvements to deposition consistency.
Needle arrays come in a variety of configurations. For some setups, a linear array is ideal. For others, a circular array or another circular arrangement such as a hexagonal array is preferred. Because electrospun fibers whip chaotically as they travel to the collector, the distribution of material is random and often is best described with a statistical distribution. The needle array configuration can improve the uniformity of mat thickness when designed properly by creating a region in which the fibers are highly likely to land on the collector.
A number of considerations are important when designing a multi-needle array, such as:
- Needle count
- Needle spacing
- Needle length and gauge
- Distribution of flow to the needles
- Material compatibility
- Ease of disassembly and adjustment
These factors can influence the performance of the electrospinning process. They also affect how easily the equipment can be cleaned and maintained, which is an essential consideration in any effective operation.
ramé-hart offers several prebuilt needle arrays, which are an excellent starting point and have designed-in customization and maintainability. We can also offer custom arrays and have built many in the past. You can see pictures of our prebuilt arrays and some custom arrays we have made here. Arrays can be made for single, coaxial, or triaxial needles, with almost any inlet and outlet configurations. Contact us today for a quote or visit our website for more information.
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The ramé-hart Team
World Leader in Surface Science Instruments