Multi-Physics Coupled FEM Method to Simulate the Formation of Crater-Like Taylor Cone in Electrospinning of Nanofibers

Abstract

Crater-like Taylor cone electrospinning is a novel, simple, and powerful approach to mass produce nanofibers. The Taylor cone, crater-like liquid bump on the free liquid surface, in this electrospinning process plays a key role to produce multiple fluid jets which finally solidifies nanofibers. A multi-physics coupled FEM method was employed to simulate the dynamic formation process of crater-like Taylor Cone in crater-like electrospinning. A blended k−ω /k−ε model for turbulence and dynamic overset grids to resolve large amplitude motions were used to simulate two-dimensional uncompressed flow, which was described in axisymmetrical coordinates. The numerical calculation results were obtained by a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The effect of gas flow on the formation of crater-like Taylor cone and the production of nanofibers were also discussed. The experiments were carried out to validate the numerical results. The Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA)/ distilled water solution with 18wt% and the air pressures ranged varied from 4 to 50kPa were used in our experiments. The results showed that the numerical results were in good agreement with the experimental results. This work provides a deep understanding of the mechanisms of micro fluid jets production in electrospinning processes and two-phase flow in specific type of industrial equipment.