Abstract
In this study, natural silk web and natural silk non-woven fabric were prepared mechanically using the binding character of the sericin in silk. The effect of process variables on the preparation, structure, and properties of the silk web and the non-woven fabric was examined. The reeling velocity affected the morphology and mechanical properties of the web but had almost no influence on the crystalline structure of the silk. From the viewpoint of reel-ability and the mechanical properties (work of rupture) of silk web, a reeling velocity of 39.2 m/min represented the optimal processing velocity. The porosity and swelling ratio of the silk web decreased slightly with increasing reeling velocity. Furthermore, the reeling bath temperature had a significant effect on the reel-ability of silk filaments from a silkworm cocoon. Bath temperatures ≥50 °C yielded good reel-ability (>900 m reeling length). The porosity, swelling ratio in water, and mechanical properties of the silk web and silk non-woven fabric changed only slightly with the reeling bath temperature but changed significantly with the hot press treatment. The hot-pressed silk web (i.e., silk non-woven fabric) exhibited higher tensile strength as well as lower elongation at break, porosity, and swelling ratio than the silk web.
Highlights
IntroductionSilk is a naturally occurring biomaterial composed of fibroin and sericin, and it has attracted significant attention, owing to its unique properties including excellent biocompatibility [1,2,3] as well as good cell adhesion and growth [4,5,6] and good biodegradability [7,8]
Silk is a naturally occurring biomaterial composed of fibroin and sericin, and it has attracted significant attention, owing to its unique properties including excellent biocompatibility [1,2,3] as well as good cell adhesion and growth [4,5,6] and good biodegradability [7,8].Silk fabricated in porous forms such as electro-spun silk web and sponge can hold fluid in pores, and cells attach to and grow in these pores [9,10,11]
To understand the effects of process variables on the preparation, structure, and properties of the web and non-woven fabric, these materials were prepared under different conditions: reeling velocity variation, hot press treatment, and reeling bath temperature variation
Summary
Silk is a naturally occurring biomaterial composed of fibroin and sericin, and it has attracted significant attention, owing to its unique properties including excellent biocompatibility [1,2,3] as well as good cell adhesion and growth [4,5,6] and good biodegradability [7,8]. The fabrication process of the web and sponge consists of many steps (e.g., degumming, drying, dissolution, dialysis, and electro-spinning (or freeze-drying)) and is, both time-consuming and costly [22,23,24,25,26] Another drawback is that during the degumming and regeneration processes, the molecular weight (MW) of the silk decreases (due to molecular degradation), and the highly crystallized silk structure is disrupted [27,28,29,30,31]. The electro-spinning rate of silk is still relatively low (0.2–3.0 mL/h) and mass production of electro-spun silk web is difficult, many studies have focused on improving the spinning rate [22,32,33,34] To overcome these problems, in the previous study [35], a new, natural silk non-woven fabric was prepared using a simple method to exploit the natural binding character of sericin. This will lead to the successful application of silk web and silk non-woven fabric to various fields, including cosmetic and biomedical fields
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