The
researchers studied the details of this “liquid wire” technique in
spiders' webs and used it to create composite fibers in the laboratory …
Controlled Environments · 1 day ago
Innovative Liquid Wire Material Inspired by Spider Silk
Tue, 05/17/2016 - 11:47am
Pulling
on a sticky thread in a garden spider's orb web and letting it snap
back reveals that the thread never sags but always stays taut — even
when stretched to many times its original length. This is because any
loose thread is immediately spooled inside the tiny droplets of watery
glue that coat and surround the core gossamer fibers of the web's
capture spiral.
This phenomenon is described in the journal PNAS by scientists from the University of Oxford and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie.
The researchers studied the details of this “liquid wire” technique in spiders' webs and used it to create composite fibers in the laboratory which, just like the spider's capture silk, extend like a solid and compress like a liquid. These novel insights may lead to new bio-inspired technology.
Professor Fritz Vollrath of the Oxford Silk Group in the Department
of Zoology at Oxford University says, 'The thousands of tiny droplets of
glue that cover the capture spiral of the spider's orb web do much more
than make the silk sticky and catch the fly. Surprisingly, each drop
packs enough punch in its watery skins to reel in loose bits of thread.
And this winching behavior is used to excellent effect to keep the
threads tight at all times, as we can all observe and test in the webs
in our gardens.'
The novel properties observed and analyzed by the scientists rely on a subtle balance between fiber elasticity and droplet surface tension. Importantly, the team was also able to recreate this technique in the laboratory using oil droplets on a plastic filament. And this artificial system behaved just like the spider’s natural winch silk, with spools of filament reeling and unreeling inside the oil droplets as the thread extended and contracted.
Dr. Hervé Elettro, the first author and a doctoral researcher at Institut Jean Le Rond D'Alembert, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, says, “Spider silk has been known to be an extraordinary material for around 40 years, but it continues to amaze us. While the web is simply a high-tech trap from the spider's point of view, its properties have a huge amount to offer the worlds of materials, engineering, and medicine.
“Our bio-inspired hybrid threads could be manufactured from virtually any components. These new insights could lead to a wide range of applications, such as microfabrication of complex structures, reversible micro-motors, or self-tensioned stretchable systems.”
Source: University of Oxford
This phenomenon is described in the journal PNAS by scientists from the University of Oxford and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie.
The researchers studied the details of this “liquid wire” technique in spiders' webs and used it to create composite fibers in the laboratory which, just like the spider's capture silk, extend like a solid and compress like a liquid. These novel insights may lead to new bio-inspired technology.
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The novel properties observed and analyzed by the scientists rely on a subtle balance between fiber elasticity and droplet surface tension. Importantly, the team was also able to recreate this technique in the laboratory using oil droplets on a plastic filament. And this artificial system behaved just like the spider’s natural winch silk, with spools of filament reeling and unreeling inside the oil droplets as the thread extended and contracted.
Dr. Hervé Elettro, the first author and a doctoral researcher at Institut Jean Le Rond D'Alembert, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, says, “Spider silk has been known to be an extraordinary material for around 40 years, but it continues to amaze us. While the web is simply a high-tech trap from the spider's point of view, its properties have a huge amount to offer the worlds of materials, engineering, and medicine.
“Our bio-inspired hybrid threads could be manufactured from virtually any components. These new insights could lead to a wide range of applications, such as microfabrication of complex structures, reversible micro-motors, or self-tensioned stretchable systems.”
Source: University of Oxford
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