Stronger Than Steel, Tougher Than Kevlar – Spider Silk’s Secret Finally Revealed

Stronger Than Steel, Tougher Than Kevlar – Spider Silk’s Secret Finally Revealed

Spiders don’t just spin webs—they engineer them. By stretching their silk as they spin, spiders strengthen the fibers at the molecular level, aligning proteins and forming extra bonds that boost durability. Scientists have now cracked this secret using computational simulations and lab experiments, paving the way for bioengineered silk with game-changing applications, from medical sutures [...]

To Spin Silk Five Times Stronger Than Steel, Spiders Perform a Stretching Trick

Stretching is key to spider silk's remarkable properties.

Spider silk is stronger than steel. An important technique that the spider uses to make the thread so strong is stretching. When the spider secretes the thread from its glands, it stretches it with its hind legs.

When spiders spin their webs, they pull silk threads out of their spinning nozzles with their hind legs. This pulling is not only dissolves the silk, but also strengthens the silk fibers and thus leads to a more stable web. Now researchers have found out why this stretching process is of such great importance: By stretching the fibers, the protein chains within [...] The post Why do spider threads become stronger by stretching? first appeared on…

Stretching Spider Silk Makes It Stronger

A new study from Professor Sinan Keten found that the amount of stretching determines the fibers’ properties.