Lightweight fabric from artificial spider silk

A Japanese company has successfully developed a new spider silk fabric with lightweight and durable features.

>>> Video: Introducing super lightweight fabric from artificial spider silk

The Japanese spider company created a spider silk fiber called Qmonos (meaning spider web in Japanese). Qmonos spun yarns have been used by Spiber for a blue dress, now on display at the Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Japan.

Spiders created artificial spider silk using synthetic genes to make the bacteria produce fibroin, a protein found in spider silk. Later, scientists used technology to grow the bacteria and weave fibroin into fabrics.

The dress was made from Spider's spider silk.

The Spiber Company registered 16 patents on spider silk technology . Currently, the company is also working with Kojima Industries to build a plant that can produce about 100kg of artificial spider silk per month. Spider hopes to be able to start producing 10 tons of artificial spider silk a year from 2015.

'This fabric can be used in many industries, such as automobiles, medicine,' ' said Spider president Kazuhide Sekiyama.

Spider webs are believed to have five times stronger strength and 5 times more elastic than nylon. When used as a bulletproof vest, spider silk is at least three times stronger than Kevlar. Spider silk forms a synthetic protein in the spider's body after being treated in acidic media, water and special chemicals.

Spider silk is water-repellent and has good elasticity. Spider silk is also used to make wound dressings because it contains some anti-bacterial properties. Scientists are increasingly interested in spider silk because they believe it can be used for anything from wire to artificial blood vessels.

However, living habits of the spider species make silk spider farming very difficult, unlike silkworms. In prey conditions, spiders can eat each other. In addition, they also produce a certain amount of silk to use to build the network for them.