Surprising strength of silkworm silk

Commercial silkworm silk is presumed to be much weaker and less extensible than spider dragline silk, which has been hailed as a 'super-fibre'. But we show here that the mechanical properties of silkworm silks can approach those of spider dragline silk when reeled under controlled conditions. We suggest that silkworms might be able to produce threads that compare well with spider silk by changing their spinning habits, rather than by having their silk genes altered.     

Palaeontology: spider-web silk from the Early Cretaceous

The use of viscid silk in aerial webs as a means to capture prey was a key innovation of araneoid spiders and has contributed largely to their ecological success. Here I describe a single silk thread from a spider's web that bears glue droplets and has been preserved in Lebanese amber from the Early Cretaceous period for about 130 million years. This specimen not only demonstrates the antiquity of viscid silk and of the spider superfamily Araneoidea, but is also some 90 million years older than the oldest viscid spider thread previously reported in Baltic amber from the Eocene epoch.     

蛛网的进化

蛛网的进化是令人感兴趣的一个难题。近年来对这一领域的研究取得许多新进展,修正了以往一些旧的错误观点,蜘蛛的演化已公认为腹部仍保留背板的中纺蛛最先出现,后来产生后纺蛛中的原蛛和新蛛,蛛网起源于原始的穴居蜘蛛在洞穴内壁用丝编织的衬里(丝管),以后丝管出口处向外延伸出领或放射的绊丝,进而出现漏斗蛛科的带丝管(隐蔽所)的片网或皿蛛科网片上下有缠结丝的皿网,圆网在进化到新蛛阶段才出现、起源于有筛器的新蛛,新蛛中一部分种类后来失去筛器,进化为无筛器蛛。园蛛总科中某些科的种类后来又失去圆网,圆网可能来自某些架在空中的片网,而圆网又可以再演变成其他网,如演化为更复杂精致的网,也可以简化而为只有几根丝的三角形网((虫无)蛛科的扇(虫无)蛛)或只有一根丝,靠丝末端的粘滴捕食(园蛛科的流星蛛),效率更高,文中对各主要网型的系统发生作了简明的介绍。当然,网的进化中有一些环节尚不清楚,有待今后进一步研究。     

蜘蛛丝拉伸变形行为的力学模型

根据大腹园蛛牵引丝力学性能的结构机理及其聚集态结构和形态结构特征，初步建立了以皮芯层结构为基础的蜘蛛丝拉伸力学模型，分析了皮芯层比例及结构对蜘蛛丝纤维力学性能的影响。以层状复合材料的拉伸变形为依据，分析了蜘蛛丝纤维的拉伸断裂过程与皮芯层性能间的关系。     

Morphology and Microstructure of Spider Dragline Silk from Araneus Ventricosus

The spider dragline silk has excellent mechanical properties. The stress- strain curves of dragline silk fibers have intraspecific and intraindividual variability because of the spiders active control during spinning process. To investigate the relationship between the morphology of dragline silk fibers and spinning conditions, four samples were made at the reeling rates of 1mm/s, 20mm/s, 43.5mm/s and 110mm/s from the major ampullate glands of Araneus Ventricosus and the other two of dragline silks were prepared from a crawling or dropping spider. The surface microstructure and nanofibril characteristic were analyzed with atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM images of 2000nm*2000nm and 500nm*500nm of these samples showed that the spinning condition influenced the surface roughness and fibril size, while AFM images of 200nm*200nm clearly displayed that dragline silk of Araneus Ventricosus included sheet macro-conformation structure. These results can facilitate the further investigation of the spinning mechanism of a spider in order to understand mechanical properties and macromolecular structures of dragline silk.     

成丝的速度与方式和蜘蛛丝力学性能的关系

为了分析蜘蛛丝的力学性能和成丝条件间的关系,研究了不同速度下人工卷取的蜘蛛牵引丝以及蜘蛛垂直下落时分泌的牵引丝的力学性能.研究结果表明,随着卷取速度的增大,蜘蛛丝的断裂强度有一极大值,在高速卷取时强度的变化较低速时平缓.垂直下落时蜘蛛分泌的牵引丝的综合力学性能优异,但断裂强度不一定大于人工卷取的丝.成丝速度和成丝方式都对蜘蛛丝的性能有很大影响.     

Solid-state NMR determination of the secondary structure of Samia cynthia ricini silk

Silks are fibrous proteins that form heterogeneous, semi-crystalline solids. Silk proteins have a variety of physical properties reflecting their range of functions. Spider dragline silk, for example, has high tensile strength and elasticity, whereas other silks are better suited to making housing, egg sacs or the capture spiral of spiders' webs. The differing physical properties arise from variation in the protein's primary and secondary structure, and their packing in the solid phase. The high mechanical performance of spider dragline silk, for example, is probably due to a beta-sheet conformation of poly-alanine domains, embedded as small crystallites within the fibre. Only limited structural information can be obtained from diffraction of silks, so further characterization requires spectroscopic studies such as NMR. However, the classical approach to NMR structure determination fails because the high molecular weight, repetitive primary structure and structural heterogeneity of solid silk means that signals from individual amino-acid residues cannot be resolved. Here we adapt a recently developed solid-state NMR technique to determine torsion angle pairs (phi, psi) in the protein backbone, and we study the distribution of conformations in silk from the Eri silkworm, Samia cynthia ricini. Although the most probable conformation in native fibres is an anti-parallel beta-sheet, film produced from liquid directly extracted from the silk glands appears to be primarily alpha-helical.     

钢腹板-混凝土组合箱梁试验研究与有限元分析

进行波形钢腹板-混凝土组合箱梁和平钢腹板-混凝土组合箱梁的模型试验.提出模拟钢腹板-混凝土组合结构的有限元方法,并在大型通用程序ANSYS中实现.有限元计算结果得到了模型梁试验结果的验证,可用于钢腹板-混凝土组合结构的数值分析.试验与数值分析结果表明,两种组合箱梁的总体受力在弹性阶段和弹塑性阶段相似.相对于平钢腹板-混凝土组合箱梁,波形钢腹板-混凝土组合箱梁由于波形钢腹板的折迭效应,其抗变形能力和抗裂性能较相对较弱,但抗剪性能和抗屈曲能力较好.在破坏模式上,波形钢腹板-混凝土组合箱梁属于整体破坏,平钢腹板-混凝土组合箱梁属于平钢腹板局部屈曲破坏,其极限承载力小于波形钢腹板-混凝土组合箱梁.平钢腹板刚度小,在实际工程应用过程中应进行加劲,以防止局部屈曲破坏早于整体破坏的发生,同时也有利于避免施工过程的局部变形.     

Molecular architecture and engineering of spider dragline silk protein

Spider dragline silk, which is produced in spider major ampullate gland, is a composite proteinacious fiber with highly repetitive Ala-Gly-rich domain. The unique combination of both high tensile strength and high elasticity makes spider dragline silk superior to almost any other natural or synthetic fibers. Cloning of the genes reveals that the silk is composed of at least two major proteins. Each protein component contains multiple repeats of modular structures that alternate between Ala-rich domains and Gly-rich domains. Molecular engineering not only opens a door to the production of spidroins but also provides a valuable experimental system to test and further establish the relationship between modular structures and mechanical properties. Here, based on our own studies, we review the latest progress of the modular structure and genetic engineering and outline the future prospects.     

大腹圆蛛包卵丝的化学组成与物理机械性能

分析了大腹圆蛛包卵丝的氨基酸组成，包卵丝中极性氨基酸含量较高，小侧基氨基酸含量较少，利用SEM及计算机图像处理技术分析了大腹圆蛛包卵丝的形态结构特征，包卵丝的断面形状基本为圆形，包层包卵丝的细度约为内层包卵丝的2倍，并且外层包卵丝的纤维断面内有许多无规分布的纳米级孔隙，经冷冻干燥后，孔隙率增加了2倍左右，在此基础上，研究了大腹圆蛛包卵丝的拉伸机械性能，光泽和热性能，初步探索了性能的形成机理，大腹圆蛛内层包卵丝具有比其他功能蜘蛛丝和丝素纤维好得多的力学性能，其强度高，伸长率大，韧性好，包卵丝在光泽和热性能方面与蚕丝丝素纤维有一定的差异。     

不排水条件下全风化花岗岩残积土工程特性与本构模型

通过土工试验对不排水剪切条件下的饱和松散砂质土的工程特性进行了探讨 ,发现其在剪切时的应力 -应变关系呈现出加工软化特性 ,土体超过峰值强度后最终达到了变形的稳定状态 .基于稳定状态概念 ,将临界土力学理论与非线性应力 -应变关系相结合 ,建立了非线性应力 -应变 -临界状态本构模型 .采用香港钻石山地区全风化花岗岩残积土的不排水三轴试验结果 ,确定了有关模型参数 ,验证了所建议本构模型的合理性     

钢框架梁柱端板连接腹板开孔型节点的受力特性

对梁柱端板连接标准型和腹板开孔型节点进行了非线性有限元分析,研究了腹板开孔参数对节点区应力分布、屈服时应力应变发展变化及节点的弹性极限承载力的影响,对不同开孔尺寸节点的力学性能进行了分析比较,探讨了端板厚度、螺栓、开孔参数对端板上应力分布的影响.结果表明,梁柱端板连接腹板开孔型节点的细部构造对其受力影响较大,采用合理的细部构造形式有利于降低应力集中,改善节点的应力分布,使之受力均匀合理.     

Molecular Fundaments of Mechanical Properties of Spider Silk

Dragline, framework and cocoon silk fibers of Araneus Ventricosus were used for this study. To investigate the microstructure mechanisms of stress-strain behavior of spider silk, firstly, amino acid compositions were analyzed and molecular conformations and crystallinity were measured with Raman spectra and X-ray diffraction respectively. The results showed that there were more amino acids with large side groups and polar ones in spider silk than those of Bombyx silk, and the amino acid distribution varied with different spider silk. The molecular structures were mainlyα-helix and β-sheet, and random coil andβ-turn existed as well. The proportions and arrangement of these conformations of dragline silk were different from framework and cocoon silk fibers. Microstructure was one of important factors of excellent mechanical properties of spider silk. Crystallinity of spider silk was very low, which implied that the roles of crystal on spider silk were not as great as other protein fibers.     

Fibre science: supercontraction stress in wet spider dragline

Unrestrained spider dragline 'super-contracts' when it is wetted, causing its length to shrink by about half and its diameter to almost double. Here we measure the supercontraction stresses generated upon initial exposure of spider dragline to moisture and find that they are transient, as well as being greater than previously estimated. Our findings cast doubt on suggestions that supercontraction may help to maintain tension in wet webs and could limit the potential load-bearing applications of silk and its analogues.     

考虑粗粒土应变软化特性和剪胀性的本构模型

在传统细粒土本构模型的基础上进行了改进,建立了一个能较好地描述粗粒土应变软化特性和剪胀性的弹塑性本构模型.该模型采用双屈服面形式,克服了单屈服面模型存在的一些不足,可同时反映剪切变形和压缩变形机理.模型在应变软化特性描述方面,提出了一个利用残余状态应力比和峰值应力比的应变软化公式,较为合理地反映了粗粒土的应变软化现象.在剪胀性描述方面,考虑了状态转换应力比与初始有效围压的相关性.数值模拟结果与试验结果较为接近,表明该模型描述粗粒土在低围压和相对中高围压下的应变软化特性和剪胀性方面具有一定的优越性.     

脆性颗粒材料的超弹性软化模型及应变局部化模拟

在Volokh软化模型的基础上,考虑颗粒材料的变形和破坏机制,认为颗粒材料以剪切变形和破坏为主,提出了表示软化程度的软化因子概念,发展了两种能够部分表征颗粒材料力学行为特征的软化模式,并基于ABAQUS用户材料子程序(UMAT)开发相应程序.数值算例考察了上述模型模拟颗粒材料应变局部化现象和软化现象的能力.结果表明了所建议模型的有效性和可行性.     

Effects of mechanical strain amplitude on the isothermal fatigue behavior of H13

Isothermal fatigue (IF) tests were performed on H13 tool steel subjected to three different mechanical strain amplitudes at a constant temperature to determine the effects of mechanical strain amplitude on the microstructure of the steel samples. The samples' extent of damage after IF tests was compared by observation of their cracks and calculation of their damage parameters. Optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to observe the microstructure of the samples. Cracks were observed to initiate at the surface because the strains and stresses there were the largest during thermal cycling. Mechanical strain accelerated the damage and softening of the steel. A larger mechanical strain caused greater deformation of the steel, which made the precipitated carbides easier to gather and grow along the deformation direction, possibly resulting in softening of the material or the initiation of cracks.     

蜘蛛丝应力—应变行为的分子结构机理

利用激光拉曼光谱技术研究了大腹园蛛牵引丝、蛛网框丝和内层包卵丝的分子构象,分析了蜘蛛丝的分子构象差异对其应力-应变行为的影响,探索了蜘蛛丝优异力学性能的分子结构机理。     

单层石墨烯薄膜拉伸破坏应变率相关性的分子动力学研究

采用Tersoff势对扶手椅型（Armchair）和锯齿型（Zigzag）单层石墨烯薄膜在不同应变率条件下的零温单向拉伸破坏过程进行了分子动力学模拟,预测了石墨烯薄膜拉伸破坏的应变率效应.结果表明,石墨烯薄膜的拉伸力学性能具有应变率相关性.当应变率低于5×10^9s^-1时,两种不同手性的单层石墨烯薄膜的拉伸过程经历了一次强化阶段,杨氏模量均随应变率的增大而减小,抗拉强度对应变率不敏感;当应变率高于5×10^9s^-1时,拉伸过程经历了二次强化,尤其锯齿型的,杨氏模量、抗拉强度和对应的拉伸应变均随应变率的增大而显著增大.在不同的应变率下,石墨烯薄膜具有不同的拉伸破坏变形机制.在低应变率下,石墨烯沿主断裂带断裂破坏,而在高应变率下,形成了缺陷簇,具有非晶化特征.     

压缩荷载作用下脆性岩石弹塑性损伤耦合本构模型研究

在压应力作用下,岩石的塑性变形和损伤演化是相互耦合的。在热动力学基本框架下,建立了一个用于描述在压缩荷载作用下脆性岩石非线性力学行为的弹塑性损伤耦合模型。模型采用基于Drucker-Prager线性屈服准则,并同时考虑损伤软化效应的函数作为加载函数。此外,为反映岩石在压应力作用下体积变形从压缩到膨胀的转化过程,引入非关联的塑性流动方程。基于已有的损伤理论,建立含有塑性剪切应变的损伤准则。通过联立屈服准则和损伤准则的一致性条件,建立塑性和损伤发展的耦合关系。运用建立的模型对不同围压下大岗山辉绿岩的常规三轴压缩试验进行模拟。模拟结果和试验数据具有较好的一致性,表明了模型的合理性和有效性。