Jan.
27, 2013 — Scientists at ASU are celebrating their recent success on the
path to understanding what makes the fiber that spiders spin -- weight for
weight -- at least five times as strong as piano wire. They have found a way to
obtain a wide variety of elastic properties of the silk of several intact
spiders' webs using a sophisticated but non-invasive laser light scattering
technique.
"Spider
silk has a unique combination of mechanical strength and elasticity that make
it one of the toughest materials we know," said Professor Jeffery Yarger
of ASU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and lead researcher of the
study. "This work represents the most complete understanding we have of
the underlying mechanical properties of spider silks."
Spider
silk is an exceptional biological polymer, related to collagen (the stuff of
skin and bones) but much more complex in its structure. The ASU team of
chemists is studying its molecular structure in an effort to produce materials
ranging from bulletproof vests to artificial tendons.
The
extensive array of elastic and mechanical properties of spider silks in situ,
obtained by the ASU team, is the first of its kind and will greatly facilitate
future modeling efforts aimed at understanding the interplay of the mechanical
properties and the molecular structure of silk used to produce spider webs.
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