Abstract
Silk fine powder was prepared directly from silk fibers irradiated with an accelerated electron beam (EB). Irradiated silk fibers were well pulverized only by physical crushing using a ball mill without any chemical pretreatment. Silk fibroin fibers were irradiated at ambient temperature in the dose range of 250–1 000 kGy. Although unirradiated silk fibers were not pulverized at all, irradiated fibers were easily pulverized and showed a high conversion efficiency from fiber to powder at high irradiation doses. The presence of oxygen in the irradiation atmosphere enhanced pulverization of the silk fibers. The electron microscopic observation showed that the minimum particle size of silk powder obtained from fibers irradiated at 1 000 kGy in oxygen was less than 10 μm. It was found that fibroin powder obtained in this work dissolved remarkably in water, thought unirradiated fibroin fibers were insoluble even in hot water. The soluble fraction was about 60% of fibroin powder for 1 000 kGy irradiation in oxygen.
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