| Abstract: | Three methacrylate‐based copolymers i.e., poly(methacrylic acid‐co‐methyl methacrylate), poly(ethyl acrylate‐co‐methyl methacrylate‐co‐trimethyl‐ammonioethyl methacrylate chloride), and poly(butyl methacrylate–co‐(2‐dimethylaminoethyl) methacrylate‐co‐methyl methacrylate)] were successfully electrospun into fibers using ethanol as the solvent. For a given applied electrical potential, increasing the concentration of the spinning solutions caused the morphology of the as‐spun products to change from discrete droplets to a combination of beaded and smooth fibers and finally to completely smooth fibers. For a given spinning solution having a low concentration, increasing the applied electrical potential increased the electro‐spinnability of the spinning solution. The average diameters for all of the as‐spun fibers were found to range between about 0.2 and 5.5 μm. Generally, for a given applied potential, the average fiber diameter increased with increasing concentration of the spinning solutions, and for a given solution concentration the average fiber diameter increased with increasing applied electrical potential. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 45:1073–1080, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers |
