Issue 26, 2022

Unexpected high toughness of Samia cynthia ricini silk gut

Abstract

Silk gut fibers were produced from the silkworm Samia cynthia ricini silk glands by the usual procedure of immersion in a mildly acidic solution and subsequent stretching. The morphology of the silk guts was assessed by scanning electron microscopy, and their microstructure was assessed by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. It was found that both naturally spun and Samia silk guts share a common semicrystalline microstructure. The mechanical characterization of the silk guts revealed that these fibers show an elastomeric behavior when tested in water, and exhibit a genuine ground state to which the fiber may revert independently of its previous loading history. In spite of its large cross-sectional area compared with naturally spun silk fibers, Samia silk guts show values of work to fracture up to 160 MJ m−3, much larger than those of most of their natural counterparts, and establish a new record value for this parameter in silk guts.

Graphical abstract: Unexpected high toughness of Samia cynthia ricini silk gut

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Mar 2022
Accepted
09 Jun 2022
First published
10 Jun 2022

Soft Matter, 2022,18, 4973-4982

Unexpected high toughness of Samia cynthia ricini silk gut

S. D. Aznar-Cervantes, J. L. Cenis, P. Lozano-Picazo, A. L. Bruno, A. Pagán, Y. Ruiz-León, M. J. Candel, D. González-Nieto, F. J. Rojo, M. Elices, G. V. Guinea and J. Pérez-Rigueiro, Soft Matter, 2022, 18, 4973 DOI: 10.1039/D2SM00340F

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