Comparative Study of Strain‐Dependent Structural Changes of Silkworm Silks: Insight into the Structural Origin of Strain‐Stiffening
Abstract
Structure–property relationships of silk is an intriguing topic for silk‐based biomaterials research since these features are related to biomimicking the processing in natural silk fiber formation which results in excellent mechanical properties. Strain‐stiffening is common for spider silks and nonmulberry silkworm silks. However, the structural origin of strain‐stiffening remains unclear. In this paper, the strain‐dependent structural change of Antheraea pernyi silkworm silk is studied by X‐ray fiber diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy under stretching. Based on a combination of mechanical and structural analysis, the molecular origins of strain‐stiffening in A. pernyi silk were determined. The relatively high content of the β‐sheets within the amorphous domains in A. pernyi silk is responsible for strain‐stiffening, where “molecular spindles” enhance the extensibility and toughness of the fiber.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Oct 27, 2017
- Source ID
- 10.1002/smll.201702266
Entities
People
- Anh Tuan Nguyen
- Chengchen Guo
- David L. Kaplan
- Jin Zhang
- Xiang Yang Liu
- Xungai Wang
Organizations
- Age Endeavour Fellowship
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Australian Research Council
- Department of Education and Training
- Department of State Development, Business and Innovation
- Tufts University