Structure and Properties of Nephila Clavipes Dragline Silk Polymer

Silk, spun from an aqueous state at room temperature by a variety of organisms, is the most commonly spun extracellular fibrous protein. It comprises polypeptide chains with regions which can crystallize and regions which are predominantly amorphous. The polymer chains in the crystalline regions form anti-parallel pleated sheet structures with an orthorhombic unit cell. Dragline silk is a structural material produced by a variety of spiders. It has been genetically tailored to meet a specific purpose. Dragline silk exhibits high extensibility and tensile strength approaching that of high-strength synthetic fibers. The specific energy to break it can exceed some steels and synthetic fibers. Samples of Nephila clavipes (golden orb-weaver) dragline silk were extracted from live specimens and examined with a series of experimental techniques including optical, scanning electron, and atomic force microscopy, wide and small angle X-ray diffraction and birefringence compensation. Computer modeling of the mechanical properties of the crystallite was also performed. An assortment of features at a variety of length scales was observed by microscopy. These occur on both the as-spun and abraded silk surfaces. The silk was observed to undergo large deformations without evidence of failure, suggesting the absence of a microfibrillar structure. There was no conclusive evidence for either a microfibrillar or a skin core structure. Meridional and equatorial SAXD peaks were observed at Bragg spacings of 79 AA and 250 AA, respectively. Analysis of the WAXD patterns indicated that the silk belongs in Warwicker's category 3b and that the minimum dimensions of the crystals are approximately 38 AA in the molecular direction and 16 x 23 AA in the transverse directions. The crystal modulus was determined with WAXD to be 16.7 GPa, applying the assumption of uniform stress. This is lower than the 200 GPa modulus calculated with molecular modeling. These results and other factors indicate the inapplicability of the widely used assumption of uniform stress. The X-ray data show increased alignment of the crystals along the fiber axis with stress. The birefringence of the silk fibers increases monotonically to failure which indicates increasing molecular alignment. The change in birefringence appears to be governed by the amorphous contribution.