Thermal and Tensile Mechanical Behavior of Acetic Anhydride Treated Silk Fibres

Abstract

Acylation of fibres can provide a route to have materials with better water proofing capability. In our present study, silk fibres were treated with various concentration (5, 10 and15 wt.%) of acetic anhydride aqueous solution and then thermal properties, tensile mechanical behaviour and moisture content of acetic anhydride treated silk fibres were studied. Raw silk fibres were taken as control for comparison. It was found that elastic modulus and tensile strength of silk fibres were increased with increasing acetic anhydride concentration while elongation at break was decreased with increase of acetic anhydride content in solution. Silk fibres treated with 15 wt. % of acetic anhydride solution exhibited about 141% (from 17 GPa to 41 GPa) improvement in elastic modulus. It was also found that acetic anhydride treated silk fibres displayed higher thermal resistance and lower moisture content as compared to untreated silk fibres.