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Artificial Spider Silk Created | Hybrid threads act like ‘liquid wires’

Spider silk is one of the most extraordinary materials found in nature, featuring tensile strengths comparable to steel, and elasticity commensurate with rubber. Together, these two properties make it two to three times tougher that some of the strongest synthetic materials, including Kevlar and nylon. What’s more, spider silk is sticky, antimicrobial, hypoallergenic and biodegradable. So scientists and engineers would like to understand as much about it as possible to develop similarly robust synthetic materials.

New research conducted by scientists at the University of Oxford and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, has uncovered yet another remarkable attribute. The capture silk produced by orb spiders – a common garden spider is always taut, even after it has been stretched to many times its original length and contracts in a way that’s quite liquid-like.

When spider silk is compressed, its filaments shorten by spooling inside tiny droplets of watery glue that cling to the threads, allowing the web to remain under tension. The process is reversible, allowing the thread to be extended. These findings now appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Vollrath and his

team were inspired by this “liquid wire” to create their own composite fibres in the lab. They tapped into the delicate and subtle balance that exists between fibre elasticity and droplet surface tensions. The resulting artificial spider silk worked just like the spider’s natural winch silk; the spools of filament reeled and unreeled inside the oil droplets as the thread expanded and contracted. The material is considered a hybrid because it extends like a solid and compresses like a liquid.

These hybrid threads could lead to advancements in materials science, engineering and medicine. “Our bio-inspired hybrid threads could be manufactured from virtually any components,” said first author Hervé Elettro. “These new insights could lead to a wide range of applications, such as microfabrication of complex structures, reversible micro-motors, or self-tensioned stretchable systems.”

Peace-lover, creative, smart and intelligent. Prapti is a foodie, music buff and a travelholic. After leaving a top-notch full time corporate job, she now works as an Online Editor for Biotecnika. Keen on making a mark in the scientific publishing industry, she strives to find a work-life balance. Follow her for more updates!