Rheological, Mechanical and Physico-chemical Behavior of Fibrous Materials

The goal of this dissertation is to widen the understanding of various physical mechanisms associated with fibrous materials. These aspects involve the production, characterization and application of said materials. In the first part of the thesis the rheological behavior of blood is investigated. In particular, its viscoelastic behavior which is also an essential requirement for the spinnability of a material for fiber formation. The viscoelastic behavior of blood has significant applications in forensic science and crime scene investigation. Several novel experimental setups were designed, built and use to form threads and fibers of viscoelastic liquids and to study their behavior. In the second part, it was shown that the novel fiber forming process of solution blowing can be scaled up to industrial levels. This development leads to a significant increase in the nanofiber production rate, which holds great promise for such fields as water treatment and energy storage. In the third part, a novel application of solution blowing for energy storage applications is described. Solution blowing is used to form ceramic nanofibers for use in batteries as solid electrolytes. The effect of salts on the viscoelasticity and spinnability of the spun solution is investigated and the performance of the produced solid electrolyte is characterized. In the fourth part, solution blowing is used to produce multiple novel fibrous materials for applications in water purification. Nanofibers containing various biomaterials are spun into large membranes and their capacity for heavy metal adsorption is elucidated. A novel kinetic model for adsorption on such membranes is also developed and verified experimentally. In the last part, a novel method for the characterization of thin fibrous materials, is developed. The method allows for measurements of such mechanical parameters as Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of fibrous materials under compression in the off-plane direction.