Reinforcement of Electrospun Nonwovens
In this paper, the solvent mixing, polymer blending, multi-walled carbon nano-tubes(MWCNTs) reinforcing, steaming and heat treatments, and multi-layering with spunbond nonwoven were used to enhance the mechanical properties of the electrospun nonwovens of polystyrene(PS), polyvinyl chloride(PVC) and poly(phthalazinone ether sulfone ketone)(PPESK). The scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and mechanical measurement were applied to characterize their microstructure and properties. The results showed that, the optimal mixture solvent can increase the tensile strength of PVC nonwovens by over 5 times; the polymer blending substantially improves the mechanical properties of PPESK nonwovens since the mechanical properties of virgin PPESK was so fragile that no data were obtained; the addition of MWCNTs to PS, PVC and PPESK improves their mechanical strength; the steaming and heating measures can be good viable route to lead to high strength for all of them; the multi-layering technique by using common spunbond nonwovens can be used to strengthen the nonwoven mats if the interfacial adhesion between the two mats can be solved well.