2.1. Electrospinning Experiments

The electrospinning experiments consisted of a series of parametric variations used to find suitable settings for the production of aerogel-containing polymer fibers. The variation in temperature and distance formed the basis for the simulation work.

First, PET and cellulose acetate butyrate were spun into fibers in order to investigate their spinnability. On the basis of these experiments, PET was chosen for further experiments as the equipment’s available temperature range fit this polymer better.

In the second phase, the temperature and spinning distance were varied. The distance was varied between 7.4 and 21 cm, while the temperature was set to 280, 290, 300, and 320 °C. These experiments yielded an optimal spinning parameter set of 7.4 cm and 300 °C, which was used for the last production of polymer/aerogel composite fibers.

While producing the aerogel-containing fibers, airflow was varied between 0.3 and 0.5 L/min in order to investigate the effect on fiber thickness and aerogel transport. This airflow was applied through the aerogel inlet and transported the aerogel particles into the middle of the electrospinning process.