Arizona State researchers are researching spider silk to make materials with more strength and more elasticity.
Jeff Yarger from Arizona State University is working to create synthetic materials based on spider webs. In his SolveForX talk Super Spider Silk he discusses the research and the resources his team uses for their work.
The project is pulling biology, chemistry, physics and engineering together to understand the structure and dynamics of biological materials. While organic material feels disordered many structures like the spider web follow a pattern that is visible to the eye and can be studied and modeled.
http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/newsid=28883.php
Arizona has between five and ten different species of spiders. One spider can produce six different types of silk with radically different properties. A silk that creates the web has high elasticity while the material a spider uses to drop and then catch themselves possesses a high tensile strength. Per weight Yarger says that the tensile strength can be higher than steel.
Research that brings new applications but also new methods is always fascinating to me. During the research studies one of Yarger’s post-doc students found a way to examine the properties of a web as the spider was spinning it. The measurements were non-destructive and non-invasive using the Brillouin spectroscopy, shining lasers onto the silks. The light then produces sound waves in the silk and reflects some light back to the operator. Pulling, twisting and shearing in any direction can be studied using this method.
As more research is done the applications are becoming more diverse. Bulletproof vests are the primary intended use for synthetic spider silk. Long term it’s hoped that anything from stretchy building materials to synthetic tendons can be created.
