Study of mechanical properties of electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibrous membrane

The mechanical properties of electrospun nanofiber membranes are critical for their applications. Nanofibrous Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membranes are prepared by electrospinning method with different degrees of alignment of nanofibers in the membrane. The mechanical properties of PAN membranes with different degree f alignments re studied by universal testing machine (UTM). The surface morphology and mechanical properties of membranes are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that with the increase of alignment of nanofibers in the, membranes exhibit superior mechanical properties than membranes with lower degree of oriented fibrous membranes. Nearly 315% enhancement in the tensile modulus is observed for the highest degree of aligned and randomly oriented fibrous membranes.