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News Release 10-040
Spider Silk Reveals a Paradox of Super-strength
Research finds weakest chemical bonds produce materials stronger than steel
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Rendering of the nanoscale structure of silks with beta-sheet nanocrystals shown in yellowish color (right), including a detailed view of the semi-amophous domains between the beta-sheet nanocrystals (left).
Credit: Figure courtesy M.J. Buehler (MIT)
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Breaking mechanisms of silk nanocrystals, as a function of the size of the crystal are shown. The left part of the image shows a small crystal, which fails gracefully as a strand is being pulled out. The larger crystal on the right fails catastrophically as a crack forms at the left part.
Credit: Figure courtesy M.J. Buehler (MIT)
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Structure of silk: The yellowish regions are the key cross-linking domains in silk, beta-sheet crystals, which are only a few nanometers in size. The strength of silks is controlled by how much force these cross-linking domains can take. The research results show that the size of these crystals is absolutely essential for silk's high performance properties.
Credit: Spider web photograph courtesy Nicolas Demars. Figure courtesy M.J. Buehler (MIT)
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