ELECTROSPINNING
By collaborating with the startup company , Lamipress carries out the mechanical design of equipment for manufacturing of electrospun membranes.
Among nanotechnologies, electrospinning is one of the most economically convenient, versatile and efficient for manufacturing highly porous membranes of nano and/or microfibers. Electrospinning has wide applications: biomedical technologies, filtration, composite materials, energy storage, sensors, electronics. This technology is based on the application of a tension difference between a spinneret and a grounded collector which leads to the eruption and stretching of a polymeric solution.
The solutoin jet is then accelerated and stretched through the external electrostatic field and gets thinner on its way to the collector, this way forming solid continious fibers.
The solvent evaporates during this process. Self-standing membranes or surface coatings can be manufactured through electrospinning.
The most common product of electrospinning are fiber membranes oriented in a casual way. The control lack of the distribution of the deposition in space is a direct consequence of the chaotic path of the jet to the collector. The control of this path can be obtained by modifying the electrostatic field through the proper design of the collectors. Different forms of nanofibers can be thus obtained.
The obtainment of the nanostructured product is possible thanks to particular devices designed both for the eruption of the polymeric solution and for collecting the final material. These devices can be devided into:
- Spinneret systems (needles, coaxial needles, etc.)
- Collectors (static bodies etc.)
These systems can be installed into cases for containing the process and remoting the controls in order to ensure the operator's safety and the better performance of the manufacturing process.
Lamipress started its activity in the field of electrospinning in 2007 in cooperation with the inter-faculty "Research Group of Electrospinning" at the University of Bologna, which gave rise to the electrospinning business cluster in 2008 and the high-tech start-up company, Spinbow srl, in 2012.
Spinbow's activity concentrates on the development, manufacturing and industrialisation of small and medium-sized equipment to produce electrospun membranes which are then marketed by Spinbow using its network of dealers.
An Electrospinning FAB LAB has been set up at the University of Bologna, in cooperation with Spinbow to allow us to test new equipment. This facility is also used by research institutes and companies to test new polymer solutions.