Shape-Stable Composites of Electrospun Nonwoven Mats and Shear-Thickening Fluids
Name
am-2021-21391y-ms-clean.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
3.34 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
a1b39432e77e579b3e765b115464c57e
Author(s)
Hao, Junli
Ding, Jie
Rutledge, Gregory C
Date Issued
February 1, 2022
Journal
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Citation
Shape-Stable Composites of Electrospun Nonwoven Mats and Shear-Thickening Fluids. Junli Hao, Jie Ding, and Gregory C. Rutledge. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2022 14 (6), 8373-8383.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
To improve the flexibility of the fabric stacks used in protective clothing, shear-thickening fluids (STFs) have previously been incorporated into woven microfiber fabrics to enhance their impact resistance. However, the microfiber-STF composites can exhibit loss of the STF from the composite over time due to the large interstitial spaces between fibers, resulting in limited long-term shape stability. In this study, nonwoven mats of electrospun ultrafine fibers (UFFs) were used in place of woven microfiber fabrics to improve the STF retention within the fiber-STF composites by taking advantage of high specific surface area, small pore size, and large capillary force. The UFF-STF composite, comprising an electrospun polyamide (PA 6,6) UFF mat and a fumed silica (FS) STF, exhibited excellent shape stability with high breakthrough pressure and improved STF retention compared to composites based on conventional microfiber fabrics. The mechanical response of the composite is shown to depend on the rate of deformation. At strain rates lower than the shear-thickening threshold of the STF, the introduction of STF resulted in no stiffening or strengthening of fiber mats, allowing the composite to remain flexible. At high deformation rates above the onset of shear thickening, the incorporation of STF improved both the elasticity and the viscosity of the material. In addition, the shape stability and the mechanical properties of the composite were influenced by the STF viscosity and the UFF morphology. STF with high particle loading and UFF with small fiber diameter resulted in a more pronounced enhancement to membrane performance.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
10.1021/acsami.1c21391
