Silk
“Silk is a natural protein fibre, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors.
(Wikipedia, Silk, 12/14/2010)
Recent Journal Articles
1/28/2011
Correlation between structural and dynamic mechanical transitions of regenerated silk fibroin
(6278-6283) Polymer 51 #26 (2010)
Yuan et al of Fudan University, China used the tan δ peak split of DMA to show that the apparent glass transition of amorphous RSF film (at around 177 °C) was the contribution of both uncrystallizable and crystallizable segments through homogeneous amide–amide hydrogen bonds, which were gradually separated from each other and produced disordered and β-sheet domains during ethanol treatment. The results showed that glass transition temperature of permanently disordered domains in crystallized RSF films was increased from 155 °C to 190 °C after thermal dehydration, and even approached 205 °C for stretched RSF films. (RDC 1/27/2011)