In-drop capillary spooling of spider capture thread inspires hybrid fibers with mixed solid-liquid mechanical properties.

ABSTRACT: An essential element in the web-trap architecture, the capture silk spun by ecribellate orb spiders consists of glue droplets sitting astride a silk filament. Mechanically this thread presents a mixed solid-liquid behavior unknown to date. Under extension, capture silk behaves as a particularly stretchy solid, owing to its molecular nanosprings, but it totally switches behavior in compression to now become liquid-like: It shrinks with no apparent limit while exerting a constant tension. Here, we unravel the physics underpinning the unique behavior of this "liquid wire" and demonstrate that its mechanical response originates in the shape-switching of the silk filament induced by buckling within the droplets. Learning from this natural example of geometry and mechanics, we manufactured progr

SUBMITTER: Elettro H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4896710 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature