I would like to purchase an electrospinning machine. But some issues raises that I could not understand.
1. Needless electrospinning can produce high quantity and uniform web but can't produce bicomponent structure.
2. Needle based machine can produce bicomponent/hollow/core-shell structure but production quantity low. Multineedle can increase production rate but electric filed distribution is complex.
3. which one is suitable to produce 3D structure? Needle or needless?
4. what is the optimize/average voltage use to produce good quality fiber mat? The machine I choose preliminary (Turkish brand) has the max. voltage 40 kV.
5. Which brand is good and economical for lab scale use and considering all aspects which type is suitable (Needle Vs Needless?)
Thank You.
Dear Milon
The decision needle vs. Needless should be based on your final application/product.
1&2) yes, needle based setup are considered better for R&D. They are more flexible, easier setup of electrospinning parameters, they required less spinning material, allow for faster customization; at the cost of production rate.
3) both could produce 3D shapes, but more complex or smaller shapes profit a lot from the flexibility and control a needle based setups have to offer.
4) Strongly depends on the used setup, solution etc. 40kV will be more then you need with needle based spinning.
5) working for a e-spin supplier, I might be bias regarding a good brand, so I leave this answers to others. Which equipment is economical, scales with your desired specifications, specially regarding reproducibility, a.k.a. humidity and temperature control etc.
Regards
Marc