Acknowledgements; Contents; Abbreviations; Symbols; Abstract; 1 Introduction; 1.1 Scope; 1.2 Research Concepts and Hypotheses; 1.3 Aims and Objectives; 1.4 Contribution of the Research; 1.5 Conclusion; References; 2 Review of Literature: Melt Electrospinning; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 Electrospinning; 2.2.1 Types of Electrospinning; 2.2.1.1 Solution Electrospinning; 2.2.1.2 Melt Electrospinning; 2.2.2 Jet Trajectory; 2.3 Research on Melt Electrospinning; 2.3.1 Equipment Used; 2.3.2 Polymers Used; 2.4 Fibre Diameter and Influencing Factors; 2.4.1 Effects of Molecular Weight/MFI

2.4.2 Effect of Viscosity2.4.3 Effect of Applied Voltage; 2.4.4 Effect of Collector Distance and Type; 2.4.5 Effect of Flow Rate; 2.4.6 Effect of Spinneret Size; 2.4.7 Effect of Temperature; 2.4.8 Effect of Ambient Parameters; 2.4.9 Effect of Electrical Conductivity; 2.4.10 Other Parameters; 2.5 Surface Morphology; 2.6 Properties of Melt Electrospun Fibres; 2.6.1 Mechanical Properties; 2.6.2 Thermal Properties; 2.6.3 Crystalline Properties; 2.6.4 Other Properties; 2.7 Conclusion; References; 3 Experimental: Melt Electrospinning; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 Materials; 3.2.1 Material Synthesis

3.2.2 Material Preparation3.3 Melt Electrospinning Apparatus; 3.4 Additives; 3.5 Annealing; 3.6 Characterisation; 3.6.1 SEM; 3.6.2 Optical Microscopy; 3.6.3 EDX; 3.6.4 NMR; 3.6.5 FTIR; 3.6.6 DSC; 3.6.7 TGA; 3.6.8 Molecular Weight or Intrinsic Viscosity; 3.6.9 XRD; 3.6.10 Shear Viscosity; 3.6.11 Electrical Conductivity; 3.6.12 Mechanical Characterisation; 3.6.13 Surface Wettability; 3.7 Conclusion; References; 4 Results and Discussion: Melt Electrospinning; 4.1 Initial Experiments with Pure Polymers; 4.1.1 Establishing the Processing Parameters; 4.1.1.1 Temperature; 4.1.1.2 Applied Voltage

4.1.1.3 Collector Distance4.1.1.4 Melt Flow Rate; 4.1.1.5 Spinneret Size; 4.1.2 Initial Results: Effect of Polymer MFI; 4.1.3 Effect of Viscosity; 4.1.4 Effect of Melt Flow Rate; 4.1.5 Other Observations; 4.1.6 Effect of Die Size and Shape; 4.1.6.1 Effect of Die Size; 4.1.6.2 Effect of Die Shape; 4.2 Experiments with Additives; 4.2.1 Effect of Additives on Fibre Diameter; 4.2.1.1 Fibre Diameter from 100 and 300 MFI; 4.2.1.2 Fibre Diameter from 1000 and 2000 MFI; 4.2.1.3 Effect of Viscosity; 4.2.1.4 Effect of Electrical Conductivity; 4.2.1.5 Optimum Concentration of SO and NaCl

4.3 Characterisation4.3.1 Elemental Composition Analysis by Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX); 4.3.2 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Results; 4.3.3 Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Results; 4.3.4 Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) Results; 4.3.5 Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) Results; 4.3.6 Molecular Weight or Intrinsic Viscosity; 4.3.7 X-ray Diffraction (XRD) Results; 4.3.8 Mechanical Property; 4.3.9 Hydrophobic Properties; 4.4 Washing of the Additives; 4.5 Conclu sion; References; 5 Conclusions: Melt Electrospinning; 5.1 Conclusions; References; 6 Review of Literature: Meltblowing