@article{c903e705eebd4296ab6b9133e5d41fa6,
title = "Effects of different post-spin stretching conditions on the mechanical properties of synthetic spider silk fibers",
abstract = "Spider silk is a biomaterial with impressive mechanical properties, resulting in various potential applications. Recent research has focused on producing synthetic spider silk fibers with the same mechanical properties as the native fibers. For this study, three proteins based on the Argiope aurantia Major ampullate Spidroin 2 consensus repeat sequence were expressed, purified and spun into fibers. A number of post-spin draw conditions were tested to determine the effect of each condition on the mechanical properties of the fiber. In all cases, post-spin stretching improved the mechanical properties of the fibers. Aqueous isopropanol was the most effective solution for increasing extensibility, while other solutions worked best for each fiber type for increasing tensile strength. The strain values of the stretched fibers correlated with the length of the proline-rich protein sequence. Structural analysis, including X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, showed surprisingly little change in the initial as-spun fibers compared with the post-spin stretched fibers.",
keywords = "Argiope aurantia, Dragline, Mechanical properties, Post-spinning, Synthetic spider silk fibers",
author = "Albertson, {Amy E.} and Florence Teul{\'e} and Warner Weber and Jeffery Yarger and Lewis, {Randolph V.}",
note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge support for the work done in the Lewis laboratory from the National Institute of Health (NIH) Award no. EB000490 , the Department of Energy (DOE) Award no. DE-SC0004791 , and the Department of Defense Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Award no. FA9550-09-1-0717 . Jeffery Yarger would like to acknowledge support from the Department of Defense AFOSR under Award no. FA9550-10-1-0275 and the National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Materials Research under Award no. DMR-0805197 . Use of the Advanced Photon Source was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science , under Contract no. DE-AC02-06CH11357 . Use of the BioCARS Sector 14 was also supported by grants from the National Center for Research Resources ( 5P41RR007707 ) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences ( 8P41GM103543 ) from the National Institutes of Health. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Michael Hinman for help with mechanical testing data analysis and valuable advice on this manuscript and Dr. Kenneth Gerow for providing insight into the statistical analysis of the data. Any opinions, findings, or conclusions presented in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NIH, DOE, NSF or AFOSR. ",
year = "2014",
month = jan,
doi = "10.1016/j.jmbbm.2013.09.002",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "29",
pages = "225--234",
journal = "Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials",
issn = "1751-6161",
publisher = "Elsevier BV",
}