A comparative study of alumina fibers prepared by electro-blown spinning (EBS) and solution blowing spinning (SBS)

Abstract Submicrometric alumina fiber mat was produced, for the first time, by the electro-blown spinning (EBS) technique and was compared with alumina fiber mats prepared using the solution blowing spinning (SBS) method. This new EBS methodology was successful in producing excellent flexible and continuous alumina fiber mat, with mean diameter of approximately 2.75 μm which was lower than the SBS alumina fiber diameter, 4.12 μm, and the diameter distribution of the EBS fiber was more uniform than the SBS’s. The EBS alumina fiber mat with pore size of 1.32 μm was obtained, which was smaller than the SBS’s (4.25 μm) prepared under the same conditions except the high potential. The lower fiber diameter and pore size made the EBS alumina fiber mat more fit for thermal filtration and other applications compared with the SBS one. This novel method might find application to produce a wide range of ceramic submicrofibrous materials, such as zirconia, ceria and titania micro- or nano-fibers.