Extended wet-spinning can modify spider silk properties.
Contrary to expectation, we demonstrate that spider dragline silk spun experimentally under water displays greater stiffness and higher resilience compared to silk spun "naturally" into air. We suggest that this consequence of extended wet-spinning is due to increased molecular orientation resulting from extension of the mobile phase.
Liu
Yi
Y
Department of Macromolecular Science and Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers of Ministry of Education, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, P. R. China.
Shao
Zhengzhong
Z
Vollrath
Fritz
F
D000388:Air; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D013112:Spiders / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water
D014867:Water