Nanofibers by electrospinning of nylon 6 doped with boron

Abstract

In this study, Nylon 6 was successfully cross-linked with boron using formic acid as solution. Electrospinning process was performed by putting hybrid nylon 6/boric acid solutions at different applied voltage in a range from 20 to 25 kV using a high voltage power supply. Nylon has been widely used in industry because of its good mechanical properties. The use of boron improves the strength, flame retardant characteristics and flexibility of the nylon 6 fibers. The structures of the nanofibers synthesized are characterized by the Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermo gravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). DSC and TGA analysis revealed that stability of electrospun nylon 6 fiber is higher than non spun sample and increase of boric acid content increases the stability of the polymer. It is observed from the SEM images that the diameters of the fibers decreased with boron content increased. FTIR analysis revealed that all characteristic N-H structures are observed and consistent with literature.