Electrospinning is the process of dispensing a polymer solution from a nozzle, then applying a extremely high voltage prospective between the nozzle as well as a collector screen. The result is a very, extremely fine fiber that is stretched as well as lengthened down to nanometers. Why would anyone want this? These fibers make fantastic filters since of their big surface area. Electrospinning has been mentioned as an enabling innovation for the future of textiles. The reality, though, is that nobody truly understands exactly how electrospinning is going to ended up being a basic industrial process since it’s so rare. Not many labs are researching electrospinning, to state nothing of industry.
[Douglas Miller] is building his own electrospinning machine. except for the ominous warning indications on the 40-kilovolt power supply, there’s nothing in this machine that makes it look any type of different from a normal, homebrew 3D printer. There are stepper motors inside to raise as well as lower a carriage, a syringe, as well as a handy USB port. If you didn’t understand any type of better, you might quickly presume [Doug]’s OpenESpin is designed to print fidget spinners as well as small tugboats instead of films of carbon nanotubes as well as piezoelectric thermoplastics.
The diy electrospinning machine is truly what the Hackaday prize is all about. It’s an enabling innovation anyone can develop for a few hundred dollars that likewise enables genuine science to happen. The films as well as blobs being developed in [Doug]’s electrospinning machine might quickly discover a house in a PhD candidate’s thesis or as a element in cutting edge research study on whatever from battery innovation to the Web of Underpants.
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