Study of Electrospun fiber diameter using ANSOFT and ANSYS

Abstract Highly controllable electrostatic field parameters are essential to achieve the expected size and properties of the electrospun nanofibres. The main objective of this research was to predict diameter of electrospun fibres by numerical and analytical approaches. Finite Element Analysis was carried out for the electric field structure at different voltages of electrospinning process using ANSOFT and ANSYS. Diameter of the electrospun fibres was derived based on the Scaling Law for the jet radius. The electric field intensity obtained using ANSOFT and ANSYS was used in the Scaling Law to predict the diameter of the electrospun fibres, which was further validated by using the experimental results reported in the open literature. Fibre diameter decreased with increase in voltage in all the studied cases. The predicted and experimental fibre diameter agreed with each other for voltages above 7.5 kV. Numerical analysis provided electrical field intensity as a function of tip to collector distance as well as voltage applied