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Materials

Surprising strength of silkworm silk

Nature volume 418, page 741 (2002)Cite this article

Silk fibres produced by artificial reeling are superior to those that are spun naturally.

Abstract

Commercial silkworm silk is presumed to be much weaker and less extensible than spider dragline silk, which has been hailed as a 'super-fibre'1,2,3,4. But we show here that the mechanical properties of silkworm silks can approach those of spider dragline silk when reeled under controlled conditions. We suggest that silkworms might be able to produce threads that compare well with spider silk by changing their spinning habits, rather than by having their silk genes altered.

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Figure 1: Comparison of silks drawn at different speeds from the silkworm Bombyx mori.
Figure 2: A cocoon produced by the silkworm Bombyx mori.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Macromolecular Science and Key Laboratory of Polymer Engineering of Education Ministry, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Zhengzhong Shao

  2. Department of Zoology, Oxford University, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 PX3, UK

    Fritz Vollrath

Authors
  1. Zhengzhong Shao
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  2. Fritz Vollrath
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhengzhong Shao.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Shao, Z., Vollrath, F. Surprising strength of silkworm silk. Nature 418, 741 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/418741a

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