Nanofibril Organization in Silk Fiber as Inspiration for Ductile and Damage-Tolerant Fiber Design

Shihui Lin; Chao Ye; Wenwen Zhang; Anchang Xu; Shixian Chen; Jing Ren; Shengjie Ling

doi:10.1007/s42765-019-00013-y

Advanced Fiber Materials ›› 2019, Vol. 1 ›› Issue (3-4) : 231 -240. DOI: 10.1007/s42765-019-00013-y

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Nanofibril Organization in Silk Fiber as Inspiration for Ductile and Damage-Tolerant Fiber Design

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¹School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, 393 Middle Huaxia Road, 201210, Shanghai, China

²Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Jiangsu Key Lab of Biomass-Based Green Fuel and Chemicals, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, 210037, Nanjing, China

³State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing Technology, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, 430200, Wuhan, China

^d xuanch@live.cn

^f renjing@shanghaitech.edu.cn

^g lingshj@shanghaitech.edu.cn

Shihui Lin

received her B.S. in Material Science and Engineering from ShanghaiTech University in China in 2018. She is currently a graduate student in the School of Physical Science and Technology (SPST) at ShanghaiTech University. Her research focuses on the mechanical properties and device application of natural fibers.

Chao Ye

received his B.S. degree in Nonwoven Mateirals and Engineering from Soochow university in 2017 and he is currently perusing a Ph.D. from ShanghaiTech University. His researches focus on fiber sensors and smart textiles.

Wenwen Zhang

received her B.S. degree from Nanjing Forestry University of majoring in Pulp and Paper Making Engineering in 2016. She is now a Ph.D. candidate student in Chemical Processing Engineering of Forest Products at Nanjing Forestry University. Her research interests are studying the structure and mechanical properties of nature fiber.

Dr. Anchang Xu

received his Ph.D. degree in 2014 at Department of Bioscience and Textile Technology, Shinshu University, Japan. He is now working at Wuhan Textile University. He is doing research on functional textile composite and nanomaterials.

Shixian Chen

currently a Master degree candidate in Textile Science and Engineering at Wuhan Textile University (Supervisor: Prof. Shuqin Yan and Anchang Xu), obtained his B.S. degree (2018) from Wuhan Textile University. His research interests focus on functional textile composite and nanomaterials.

Jing Ren

is currently a Research Assistant Professor in the School of Physical Science and Technology at ShanghaiTech University. She received her B.S. in Chemistry at Lanzhou University in China in 2007, Ph.D. in Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics at Fudan University in China in 2016. She then worked at Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine before joining ShanghaiTech University in 2018. She focuses on the development of functional natural materials for wearable applications.

Shengjie Ling

is an assistant professor in the School of Physical Science and Technology at ShanghaiTech University. His research focuses on developing biopolymer functional materials through the integration of synchrotron-based characterization, computational modeling and bioinspired & biomimetic fabrication. He obtained his B.S. degree from the Zhejiang University of Technology (2009) and Ph.D. from Fudan University (2014). During 2012–2013, He awarded the State Scholarship Fund of China to pursue his study at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, as a joint Ph.D. student. Prior to joining ShanghaiTech University, he worked as a postdoctoral associate at MIT and Tufts University (2014–2017). Ling can be reached by email at lingshj@shanghaitech.edu.cn.

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Abstract

Abstract

Ductile and damage-tolerant fibers (DDTFs) are desired in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering because of their ability to prevent the catastrophic sudden structural/mechanical failure. However, in practice, design and fabrication of DDTFs remain a major challenge due to finite fiber size and limited processing techniques. In this regard, animal silks can provide inspirations. They are hierarchically structured protein fibers with an elegant trade-off of mechanical strength, extensibility and damage tolerance, making them one of the toughest materials known. In this article, we confirmed that nanofibril organization could improve the ductility and damage-tolerance of silk fibers through restricted fibril shearing, controlled slippage and cleavage. Inspired by these strategies, we further established a rational strategy to produce polyamide DDTFs by combining electrospinning and yarn-spinning techniques. The resultant polymeric DDTFs show a silk-like fracture resistance behavior, indicating potential applications in smart textile, biomedicine, and mechanical engineering.

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Shihui Lin, Chao Ye, Wenwen Zhang, Anchang Xu, Shixian Chen, Jing Ren, Shengjie Ling. Nanofibril Organization in Silk Fiber as Inspiration for Ductile and Damage-Tolerant Fiber Design. Advanced Fiber Materials, 2019, 1(3-4): 231-240 DOI:10.1007/s42765-019-00013-y