Analysis of the pressure requirements for silk spinning reveals a pultrusion dominated process.

ABSTRACT: Silks are remarkable materials with desirable mechanical properties, yet the fine details of natural production remain elusive and subsequently inaccessible to biomimetic strategies. Improved knowledge of the natural processes could therefore unlock development of a host of bio inspired fibre spinning systems. Here, we use the Chinese silkworm Bombyx mori to review the pressure requirements for natural spinning and discuss the limits of a biological extrusion domain. This provides a target for finite element analysis of the flow of silk proteins, with the aim of bringing the simulated and natural domains into closer alignment. Supported by two parallel routes of experimental validation, our results indicate that natural spinning is achieved, not by extruding the feedstock, but by the pulli

SUBMITTER: Sparkes J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5605702 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature