Table 1.
Polymer-laid spinning techniques and their fiber dimensions, advantages and disadvantages, and applications (adopted and modified from [49].).
| Methods | Fiber Dimensions |
Advantages | Disadvantages | Applications |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spunbonded | Microfibers | Randomly oriented fibers offer good mechanical strength; mass production; good thermal properties; permeability; high tear strength; abrasive resistance | Lesser filtration efficiency due to larger fibers although reducing fiber diameters can achieve improved protection properties and can be used for other applications; poor barrier property | Medical and healthcare; construction; agricultural packaging; protective materials; filtration—due to low filtration efficiency (can achieve only 88.27%) it can be used as outer/inner mask layers |
| Meltblown | Micro/nanofibers | Does not require solvents leading to no pollution; high barrier property; mass production; wide range of polymers | Filtration can only be met using electrostatic electret; wear resistance and mechanical properties are lower but better than electrospun/centrifugal spun fabrics; larger diameter; higher temperature air is required | Filtration—air, liquid, oil/water separation; medical protection—PPE, masks |
| Electrospinning | Nanofibers | High barrier property; simple device; ultrafine fiber diameters; wide range of polymers and polymer composites | Safety issue—high voltage, poor mechanical strength compared with spunbond, and meltblown; low productivity; better spinning stability needed for large industrial scale production | Biomedicine; filtration materials; protective clothing |
| Centrifugal spinning | Nanofibers | Both conductive and non-conductive polymers; high barrier property; safer to use compared with electrospinning; when polymers are melt centrifugal spun, can be solvent free causing no pollution. | Poor mechanical strength compared with meltblown and spunbond; complex machinery for lab-scale; need to optimize spinning concentration to attain desired fiber sizes with good properties; less homogeneous fibers compared with electrospinning; higher speed and performances need advanced motor and bearings; melt centrifugal spun has fibers in microns | Biomedical and tissue engineering-based applications such as wound dressings, etc.; filtration; sensors |
| Solution blow spinning | Nanofibers | High barrier property; high voltage is not needed; wide range of polymers; ultrafine fiber diameters; non-toxic solvents used for spinning; thermal degradation of polymers can be avoided | Poor mechanical strength compared with spunbond and meltblown; unintentional fiber entanglement | High temperature thermal insulation; air filtration; water treatment; electronic devices; biomedical applications |
| Flash spinning | Micro/nanofibers | Good barrier property; excellent tear and puncture resistance; water resistance and mechanical strength; good permeability; can use insoluble polymers to prepare fibers | Unintentional fiber entanglement | Air filtration; medical protective materials |