Fabrication and Characterization of Electrospun Wool Nanoparticles/Nylon 6 Composite Nanofiber Yarn

The present study attempts to combine the propertiesof natural and synthetic fibers by using nanotechnology.Considering the potential of nylon nanofiber structures in someapplications such as controlled drug release, moisture microsensorsand antibacterial filters, the moisture absorption of thenanofibers could be improved via using biocompatible naturalfibers such as wool. In this investigation, it was achieved toproduce yarns of composite nylon 6 nanofibers, incorporatingwool nanoparticles (WNPs), via electrospinning. WNPs wereadded to the electrospinning solution of nylon 6 in variousconcentrations. Scanning electron microscopy was employedto characterize the morphology of composite nanofibers.The existence of WNPs in the nanofibers was confirmed bytransmission electron microscopy. Fourier transform infraredspectroscopy (FTIR) spectra showed that nanofibrouscomposite formation did not influence the chemical bonds ofboth the wool nanoparticles and nylon 6, and no new steadybonds were formed. It was found that an increase in theWNPs concentration increased the diameter of compositenanofibers from 152±16 nm (pure nanofibers) to 266±51 nm(7 wt% nanoparticles). The assessment of moisture regainof composite nanofiber yarns showed that the moistureabsorption of nylon 6 nanofibers improved by introducing theWNPs as hydrophilic components. The moisture regain of the composite nanofibers yarn containing 7 wt% nanoparticleswas found to be higher than that of the pure nanofibers yarnby about 117.1%. On the other hand, tensile strength andelongation-at-break of composite nanofiber yarns initiallydecreased and then increased with the increase in WNPsconcentration.