Journal
NANOMATERIALS
Volume 10, Issue 8, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/nano10081510
Keywords
spider silk; scanning electron microscopy; plasma etching; mesoscale modelling; tensegrity systems; biomimetic fibres
Categories
Funding
- Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) under the P.R.I.N. 2017 National Grant Multiscale Innovative Materials and Structures [2017J4EAYB]
- EPSRC [EP/N008065/1, 1816190, EP/K005693/1]
- EPSRC [EP/N008065/1, EP/K005693/1, 1816190] Funding Source: UKRI
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This work establishes a tensegrity model of spider dragline silk. Tensegrity systems are ubiquitous in nature, being able to capture the mechanics of biological shapes through simple and effective modes of deformation via extension and contraction. Guided by quantitative microstructural characterization via air plasma etching and low voltage scanning electron microscopy, we report that this model is able to capture experimentally observed phenomena such as the Poisson effect, tensile stress-strain response, and fibre toughness. This is achieved by accounting for spider silks' hierarchical organization into microfibrils with radially variable properties. Each fibril is described as a chain of polypeptide tensegrity units formed by crystalline granules operating under compression, which are connected to each other by amorphous links acting under tension. Our results demonstrate, for the first time, that a radial variability in the ductility of tensegrity chains is responsible for high fibre toughness, a defining and desirable feature of spider silk. Based on this model, a discussion about the use of graded tensegrity structures for the optimal design of next-generation biomimetic fibres is presented.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available