title: Microstructural change of degummed Bombyx mori silk: an in situ stretching wide-angle X-ray-scattering study.
abstract: The microstructural change of degummed Bombyx mori silk was examined by in situ wide-angle X-ray-scattering (WAXS) with applied stretching force. WAXS patterns confirmed that the crystalline and amorphous regions coexist in the silk fibers. The crystallites with β-sheet structure have an orthorhombic unit cell with lattice parameters: a=9.10 Å, b=9.71 Å and c=6.80 Å. The crystallite size, crystallite orientation and crystallinity were also estimated based on the WAXS patterns. The results demonstrate that the crystallite size is almost unchanged with the stretching strain. The crystallinity is approximately linearly increasing with the applied stretching force. However, the change of the unit-cell orientation degree with c-axis along the fiber axis behaves as a fast stage and an approximately unchanged stage during the in situ stretching process. All these experimental phenomena confirm that the microstructure of the degummed silk fibers can be well explained by the model of oriented β-sheet structure with a banded feature.
authors: National Center for Materials Service Safety, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
authors: Ku
authors: K
authors: Liang
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Gong
authors: Jianlong
authors: J
authors: Fu
authors: Shi
authors: S
authors: Yan
authors: Yuanyuan
authors: Y
authors: Tan
authors: Rong
authors: R
authors: Du
authors: Xueqing
authors: X
authors: Xing
authors: Guang
authors: G
authors: Mo
authors: Zhongjun
authors: Z
authors: Chen
authors: Quan
authors: Q
authors: Cai
authors: Dongbai
authors: D
authors: Sun
authors: Zhonghua
authors: Z
authors: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D012831:Bombyx / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D047011:Silk / Q000737:chemistry*; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D047011:Silk