Synergetic Material and Structure Optimization Yields Robust Spider Web Anchorages

Pugno, Nicola; Cranford, Steven W.; Buehler, Markus J.

doi:10.1002/smll.201201343

Cited by 46 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(70 reference statements)

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“…The PI silk of Drassodex is less stiff than most silks, with the exception of flagelliform silk. These results are in line with previous theoretical estimations, which predicted that piriform silk should be rather stretchy, although extensibility and softness were extremely overestimated (Pugno et al, 2011). These properties can be related to random coil structures, caused by regularly spaced proline domains in the piriform spidroin, which were found to enhance flexibility (Chaw et al, 2017;Geurts et al, 2010).…”

Section: Properties Of Piriform Silksupporting

confidence: 92%

“…This means that the adhesion of the glue coat exceeds its strength in these cases. Assuming that the pulloff stress works only in a small zone near the detachment ( peeling edge), as proposed by previous authors (Pugno et al, 2011;Sahni et al, 2012), it would mean that the glue can withstand a shear strength of 400-700 MPa. For comparison, conventional artificial glues reach shear strengths of 0.9-1.7 MPa (Graham et al, 2016).…”

Section: Properties Of Piriform Silkmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Is prey capture a functional substitution or extension, and are there trade-offs between the two functions? Generally, silk anchorages with attachment discs should be much more robust against pull-offs than a thread's own glue coat, because the attachment disc structure generates a much higher contact area and effectively controls the peel-off angle (Pugno et al, 2013;Sahni et al, 2012;Wolff, 2017;Wolff and Herberstein, 2017). Nonetheless, an enormous mechanical impact is expected in the case of a struggling prey attached to a substrate by glue-coated silk.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Hunting with sticky tape: functional shift in silk glands of araneophagous ground spiders (Gnaphosidae)

Wolff

Řezáč

Krejčí

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Foraging is one of the main evolutionary driving forces shaping the phenotype of organisms. In predators, a significant, though understudied, cost of foraging is the risk of being injured by struggling prey. Hunting spiders that feed on dangerous prey like ants or other spiders are an extreme example of dangerous feeding, risking their own life over a meal. Here, we describe an intriguing example of the use of attachment silk ( piriform silk) for prey immobilization that comes with the costs of reduced silk anchorage function, increased piriform silk production and additional modifications of the extrusion structures (spigots) to prevent their clogging. We show that the piriform silk of gnaphosids is very stretchy and tough, which is an outstanding feat for a functional glue. This is gained by the combination of an elastic central fibre and a bi-layered glue coat consisting of aligned nanofibrils. This represents the first tensile test data on the ubiquitous piriform gland silk, adding an important puzzle piece to the mechanical catalogue of silken products in spiders.

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Section: Properties Of Piriform Silksupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Properties Of Piriform Silkmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hunting with sticky tape: functional shift in silk glands of araneophagous ground spiders (Gnaphosidae)

Wolff

Řezáč

Krejčí

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…This difference is traced to the different biological functions of the two structures. Byssus threads connect directly to the mussel's tissue and they need to avoid extremely large forces that may harm the tissue, while the spider web's anchorage has a primary role in maximizing the adhesion force 17 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact tolerance in mussel thread networks by heterogeneous material distribution

Qin

Buehler

2013

Nat Commun

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The Mytilidae, generally known as marine mussels, are known to attach to most substrates including stone, wood, concrete and iron by using a network of byssus threads. Mussels are subjected to severe mechanical impacts caused by waves. However, how the network of byssus threads keeps the mussel attached in this challenging mechanical environment is puzzling, as the dynamical forces far exceed the measured strength of byssus threads and their attachment to the environment. Here we combine experiment and simulation, and show that the heterogeneous material distribution in byssus threads has a critical role in decreasing the effect of impact loading. We find that a combination of stiff and soft materials at an 80:20 ratio enables mussels to rapidly and effectively dissipate impact energy. Notably, this facilitates a significantly enhanced strength under dynamical loading over 900% that of the strength under static loading.

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“…The latter paper is based on the so-called theory of multiple peeling suggesting that a simultaneous detachment of opposing adhesive tapes leads to much higher adhesion than the sum of detachment forces needed to peel-off each tape separately [35], a model that is highly applicable to biological locomotory attachment systems, such as gecko feet or arthropod adhesive foot pads [36]. The previous models of the 'staple-pin' architecture [12,13] presume that initially the dragline is directly cemented to the substrate by means of the pyriform threads. However, our Figure 2.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Composition and substrate-dependent strength of the silken attachment discs in spiders

Grawe

Wolff

Gorb

2014

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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Araneomorph spiders have evolved different silks with dissimilar material properties, serving different purposes. The two-compound pyriform secretion is used to glue silk threads to substrates or to other threads. It is applied in distinct patterns, called attachment discs. Although ubiquitously found in spider silk applications and hypothesized to be strong and versatile at low material consumption, the performance of attachment discs on different substrates remains unknown. Here, we analyse the detachment forces and fracture mechanics of the attachment discs spun by five different species on three different substrates, by pulling on the upstream part of the attached thread. Results show that although the adhesion of the pyriform glue is heavily affected by the substrate, even on Teflon it is frequently strong enough to hold the spider's weight. As plant surfaces are often difficult to wet, they are hypothesized to be the major driving force for evolution of the pyriform secretion.

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Synergetic Material and Structure Optimization Yields Robust Spider Web Anchorages

Abstract: Millions of years of evolution have adapted spider webs to achieve a range of properties

Cited by 46 publications

References 59 publications

Hunting with sticky tape: functional shift in silk glands of araneophagous ground spiders (Gnaphosidae)

Hunting with sticky tape: functional shift in silk glands of araneophagous ground spiders (Gnaphosidae)

Impact tolerance in mussel thread networks by heterogeneous material distribution

Composition and substrate-dependent strength of the silken attachment discs in spiders

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