New generation artificial spider silk: more durable than steel and 98% made from water

Researchers from Cambridge University have developed a new technique to create a strong, elastic thread in a way that is not more environmentally friendly.

Of course, the silk of a spider has inherently possessed impressive characteristics. It is one of the most durable materials found in nature, stronger than steel and harder than Kevlar (a synthetic fiber used as a bulletproof vest). It can be stretched many times over its actual length until it breaks. For these reasons, the regeneration of spider silk in the laboratory has probably become the obsession of material scientists for centuries.

Now, researchers from Cambridge University have created a new material that mimics the strength, elasticity and energy absorption of spider silk. This material provides a great potential for improving the quality of products from bicycle helmets, paragliders and bulletproof vests. And what is perhaps the most unique point of it? 98% made from water.

"Spiders are ideal models because they are capable of producing excellent filaments at room temperature, using water as a soluble solvent , " said Darchil Shah, an engineer at the Center for Materials Innovation. Natural Cambridge. "This is the process that spiders have owned after hundreds of millions of years of evolution, but we have not been able to reproduce it."

The lab fibers made from this lab are made of a material called hydrogel , with 98% water and 2% being silica and cellulose, the latter two are bound together by cucurbiturils, Molecular particles have the same task as "handcuffs" . These silica and cellulose fibers can be pulled by hydrogel. After about 30 seconds or the same amount of time, the water will evaporate, leaving only the elastic elastic filaments: artificial silk.

Spider silk is stronger than steel and harder than Kevlar, but successfully building on a large scale in the laboratory is still an obsession for scientists for decades.

These fibers are extremely powerful - although not as strong as the best spider silk - and prominently, they can be made at room temperature without the need for chemical solvents. This means that, if they are mass-produced, they will have an advantage over synthetic fibers such as nylon, which require extremely high temperatures to drive silk, making textile production one of the industries. The world's most environmental destruction industry.Artificial spider silk is also completely biodegradable. And because they are made of extremely popular and easy-to-find materials - mostly water, silica and cellulose - it has extremely low potential.

Also, since this material can absorb a lot of energy, it can be used as a protective fabric.

"Spiders desperately need absorption because when a bird or fly gets caught in the spider web, it needs to be able to absorb, otherwise it will break," Shah said. "So things like bulletproof vests or other military protective vests can apply this new technology hopefully."

Other potential applications include sailor clothes, paragliding fabric, air balloon material, or bicycle or skateboarder helmets. This material is biodegradable, meaning it is capable of being used inside the human body like medical stitches.

The silk thread can be adjusted in some interesting ways, Shah said. Replacing cellulose with many different polymers can turn this silk into a completely different material. The basic principles can be recreated to produce different fabric versions - no need for chemical solvents and low temperatures.

"This is a common method for making fibers, making any kind of [artificial] fiber green , " Shah said.

The Shah and his group are of course not the only scientists working to create artificial spider silk. Unlike silkworms, which can be raised for silk, spiders are cannibalistic and cannot tolerate being confined to the small space needed for breeding, so they should be brought to the laboratory. Testing is probably the only way to get a significant amount of this material.

It can be said that every few years, we have a remarkable news about a new breakthrough in this research process. A group of Germans modified the E-coli bacteria to produce spider silk molecules. Scientists at Utah State University breed genetically modified "spider goats" to produce silk proteins in its milk. The US military is testing "dragons" produced through genetically modified silkworms, intended for use in bulletproof vests. Earlier this year, researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden published a new study on a new method that uses bacteria to produce spider proteins in the most sustainable and effective way. And this spring, California Bolt Threads-based startups introduced the public for the first time a bio-designed spider silk necktie at SXSW exhibition. Their product is made through a fermentation process to produce silk proteins, which then go through a pressing process to turn into fibers.

However, as the Wired article in 2015 pointed out: "In general at the present time, all efforts to mass produce this spider silk product to put into the market in large quantities, of both scientists and large corporations have generally failed ".

This is also the challenge that Shah and his group are facing now.

"We now make about a few tens of milligrams of this material and then spin it from them , " he said. "But we are trying to do this process on a larger scale."

To do that, the team is working with a robot device to pull and spin yarn faster and on a larger scale than before. They have achieved some success, Shah said, and are continuing to explore this process.

"We are still in the early stages of research , " he said.