Spectroscopie Raman de fibres électrofilées : développement de méthodes et application aux fibres individuelles

Electrospinning is an efficient and versatile technique to produce continuous fibers of typical diameter of a few hundred nanometers from the application of a high voltage on a concentrated and entangled polymer solution. The rapid solvent evaporation and the significant elongational forces involved in the fiber formation process give rise to unusual properties that are interesting for various types of applications, but that are yet to be fully explored. Due to their small size, these materials have been, for a long time, studied into bundles composed of thousands of fibers using conventional techniques such as infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Our current understanding of their behavior thus relies on a convolution of the properties of the mat and the specific characteristics of each fiber composing it. Recent studies at the individual fiber level have revealed unusual properties, particularly an exponential increase of the modulus with the diameter reduction. The orientation and the molecular structure within the fibers are suspected to be at the origin of these properties, but in a way that is still far from being understood. Establishing clear structure/properties relationships and identifying the parameters that influence them represent significant challenges. However, they are of tremendous importance to fully take advantage of the specific characteristics of electrospun fibers. A key step toward this goal is to develop methodologies that enable fast and in-depth structural analysis on large quantities of individual fibers with a large diameter range.  In this thesis, confocal Raman spectroscopy is used to probe structural characteristics of individual fibers such as their molecular orientation, crystallinity and disentanglement. A new methodology for orientation quantification is first demonstrated theoretically with the objectives of reducing the experimental complexity of the Raman measurements, of extending the variety of materials that can be analysed, and of eliminating recurrent errors brought by the use of the conventional method. The experimental validity and applicability of this new method, referred to as MDP, is then demonstrated. Following this, an efficient protocol enabling the structural study of individual electrospun fibers by confocal Raman spectroscopy is presented, using poly(ethylene therephthalate) as a model system. The limitations of the technique are exposed and experimental strategies to circumvent them are highlighted. Results reveal the large variability of the orientation and of chain conformation from fiber to fiber, showing the importance and the relevance of statistical studies of individual fibers.  Following this, the presence of chains showing a level of entanglement lower in electrospun fibers than in the bulk is demonstrated experimentally for the first time using infrared spectroscopy on bundles of polystyrene fibers. The principal electrospinning conditions promoting this structural phenomenon, which is suspected to influence greatly the properties of the fibers, are identified. Finally, the various methodologies developed in the thesis are combined for an in-depth study of orientation and disentanglement on large quantities of individual polystyrene fibers covering a large diameter range. This last study enables establishing the first structure/properties relationships for these materials, at the individual fiber scale, by clearly exposing the link between orientation, disentanglement and the elastic modulus of the fibers.

Keyphrases: Electrospinning, Fibers, Raman spectroscopy, Molecular orientation, Disentanglement, Structure/properties relationships