The path and motion of an electrospinning jet observed with videography and stereography

Darrell Reneker, The University of Akron

Abstract

An electrospinning jet illuminated with both a steady intense light and a short flash was stereoscopically recorded through a pair of prisms in a video, producing images of both traces of moving glints reflected from the surface of a jet and the instantaneous positions of the path of the jet. The relationship between the visual observation and the jet path described in the Reneker-Yarin model1,2 was explained by analyzing the stereographic images. Computer modeling was used to elucidate the relationship between the onset of the bending instability and the bifurcation of a glint trace. The velocities and positions, in 3-dimensional space, of segments of a jet were calculated from the stererographic images. The distributions of velocities and positions of segments along the vertical direction were analyzed. A novel and facile method was used to observe the handedness of the coiled path of an electrospinning jet.