Thermophysical properties of the dragline silk of Nephila clavipes spider

Investigation of Synthetic Spider Silk Crystallinity and Alignment via Electrothermal, Pyroelectric, Literature XRD, and Tensile Techniques

“…The results presented in the current study take these additional considerations into account, thus yielding the additional accuracy needed to compare the natural to the synthetic spider silk. The value found for the thermal conductivity of dragline silk is 1.2 W m −1 K −1 and for the thermal diffusivity 6 × 10 −7 m 2 s −1 , with 12% uncertainty . These values are considerably more reasonable for a semicrystalline, protein‐based polymer, such as human hair or a different species of spider .…”

“…Originally, these high values were attributed to the crystalline β‐sheets that exist in the natural dragline silk (as shown by XRD). However, further investigation of the thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of the natural dragline silk demonstrated that the initial results were erroneous, due to neglecting the radiation heat transfer contribution, to insufficient vacuum to eliminate convection, and to length dependence of the thermal property measured. The results presented in the current study take these additional considerations into account, thus yielding the additional accuracy needed to compare the natural to the synthetic spider silk.…”

“…To that end, the best approach is to determine the diffusivity of multiple fibers that underwent the same production process, assume that they have the same radiation characteristics, and curve‐fit the property values as a function of the square of the length to determine a “zero‐length” property. This “zero‐length” value is where radiation heat loss would not overpredict the property measurement and provides an accurate thermal diffusivity value.…”

“…In a previous study, it has been noted that the process pathway of spinning the synthetic silk will have great influence on the final material properties . Some of these properties of the natural and synthetic spider silks have been reported in literature (mechanical and thermal), but the pyroelectric response of silk is lacking in the literature. To this end, the thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity, and local pyroelectric response have been measured in the current study for different postextrusion processes of synthetic spider silk.…”

CdSe/ZnS quantum dot fluorescence spectra shape-based thermometry via neural network reconstruction

“…16 Another incentive to select quantum dots for the current experiment is the earlier demonstration of their successful integration into both silk worm 17 and spider 18 silk (although the purpose of this coating was merely for appearances). The thermal properties of spider silk materials have previously been investigated, 19 and a synthetically produced silk is the substrate used in the current investigation for future thermal characterization by photothermal methods. The typical accuracy of quantum dot fluorescence thermometry is typically on the order of 1-2 K, 20 but this work seeks to improve upon that temperature accuracy.…”