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Posttreatment of the dry-spun fibers obtained from regenerated silk fibroin aqueous solution in ethanol aqueous solution

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Abstract

Regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) fibers were directly dry-spun from RSF aqueous solutions into air. To improve mechanical properties of fiber, the as-spun fibers were postdrawn in 80 vol.% ethanol aqueous solution, in which an immersion process was performed subsequently. With the increase in draw ratio, the fibers show substantial improvements of orientation and mechanical properties. Quantitative analysis of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicates that the ratio of β-sheet to α-helix conformation increases sharply at the beginning of immersion process, then approaches a constant value after 90 min of immersion. All fibers exhibit very smooth surfaces. There is no obvious relationship between the pH of the spinning dope and the mechanical properties of the regenerated fibers. The breaking stress of the posttreated fiber is improved up to 301 MPa, which approaches that of degummed silk. The posttreated fiber is over three times the breaking energy of degummed silk.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (50803011), Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (200802550001), Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project (B603), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and Shanghai Pujiang Program (09PJ1400700).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Wei Wei, Yaopeng Zhang, Huili Shao & Xuechao Hu

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  1. Wei Wei
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  2. Yaopeng Zhang
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  3. Huili Shao
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  4. Xuechao Hu
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Correspondence to Yaopeng Zhang.

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Wei, W., Zhang, Y., Shao, H. et al. Posttreatment of the dry-spun fibers obtained from regenerated silk fibroin aqueous solution in ethanol aqueous solution. Journal of Materials Research 26, 1100–1106 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.47

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