Mass Production of Nanocomposites Using Electrospinning

Many conventional polymer processing technologies for compounding micro-/nanocomposites are known in the field. These methods include the direct use of high shear mixers, roll mixers, Banbury mixers, and extruders. With recent interest in advanced composites with nanoscale fillers, efforts have been made to enhance conventional processing technologies as the imposed input energy is often ineffective at breaching the energy barrier to breakup agglomerated nanofiller structures. Electrospinning is a simple, inexpensive process that can be used to produce continuous fibers from submicron to nanometer diameter scale through an electrically charged polymer jet. In this paper, authors present a rotary electrospinning method developed to produce nanocomposites at mass scale by using simultaneously mechanical and electrical forces with a proprietary apparatus. A case study using silica nanoparticles and silicone rubber matrix is presented to demonstrate the capability of the above method of dispersing nanoparticles in highly viscous polymer matrix materials.