Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 113, Issue 22, Pages 6143-6147Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1602451113
Keywords
bioinspired material; microsystems; fluid-structure interaction; elastocapillarity; spider silk
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Funding
- European Research Council [233409] Funding Source: Medline
- European Research Council (ERC) [233409] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
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An essential element in the web-trap architecture, the capture silk spun by ecribellate orb spiders consists of glue droplets sitting astride a silk filament. Mechanically this thread presents a mixed solid-liquid behavior unknown to date. Under extension, capture silk behaves as a particularly stretchy solid, owing to its molecular nanosprings, but it totally switches behavior in compression to now become liquid-like: It shrinks with no apparent limit while exerting a constant tension. Here, we unravel the physics underpinning the unique behavior of this liquid wire and demonstrate that its mechanical response originates in the shape-switching of the silk filament induced by buckling within the droplets. Learning from this natural example of geometry and mechanics, we manufactured programmable liquid wires that present previously unidentified pathways for the design of new hybrid solid-liquid materials.
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