Tensile Strength of Single Fiber of <i>Antheraea pernyi</i> Cocoon Prepared by Various Protocols

Abstract

The cocoon of Antheraea pernyi was grown in the laboratory with tropical artificial conditioning. The caterpillar was fed with Lantana camara leaf. They are 3 protocols provided to yield single fiber from the cocoon. The first protocol developed in this work was based on the single fiber drawing directly from the live caterpillar during cocoon stage establishment (forcibly silking). The single fiber was gently pulled and rolled up manually. The second protocol was conducted by degumming the cocoon with boiling in 5%NaoH solution. The cocoon was boiled in 5% NaOH solution and gently stirred. When the fiber was found detached from the cocoon, the boiling process was stopped, and the fiber obtained was washed with water and dried in the oven. The third protocol was simple boiling of the cocoon with water and gently stirring until the cocoon disintegrated to become a fiber. The fiber obtained was washed and dried in the oven. The first protocol by forcibly silking produced fiber with highest tensile strength of average value of 149.251 MPa. The other protocols introduced in this work resulted in lower tensile strength. Alkali treatment provided average tensile strength of 43.833 MPa and boiling in water resulted in tensile strength 52.571 MPa.