Re-spun silkworm silk is 70% stronger than spider silk
Published Date: 10/6/2022
Source: phys.org
Spiders hold the market for the strongest silks but are too aggressive and territorial to be farmed. The next best alternative involves incorporating spider DNA into silkworms, an expensive and difficult-to-scale process. On October 6 in the journal Matter, scientists at Tianjin University show how the silk naturally produced by silkworms can be made 70% stronger than spider silks by removing a sticky outer layer and manually spinning the silk.