Abstract

Spider silk fibers are of scientific and industrial interest because of their extraordinary mechanical properties. These properties are normally determined by tensile tests, but the values obtained are dependent on the morphology of the fibers, the test conditions, and the methods by which stress and strain are calculated. Because of this, results from many studies are not directly comparable, which has led to widespread misconceptions in the field. Here, we critically review most of the reports from the past 50 years on spider silk mechanical performance and use artificial spider silk and native silks as models to highlight the effect that different experimental setups have on the fibers' mechanical properties. The results clearly illustrate the importance of carefully evaluating the tensile test methods when comparing the results from different studies. Finally, we suggest a protocol for how to perform tensile tests on silk and biobased fibers.

Published in

Biophysics reviews
2023, Volume: 4, number: 3, article number: 031301

SLU Authors

• Greco, Gabriele

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • University of Trento

• Schmuck, Benjamin

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Karolinska Institute

• Rising, Anna

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Karolinska Institute

Sustainable Development Goals

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation


UKÄ Subject classification

Applied Mechanics
Other Materials Engineering


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0155552

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/127215