Effect of Hydration on Silk Film Material Properties

✍ Scribed by Brian D. Lawrence; Scott Wharram; Jonathan A. Kluge; Gary G. Leisk; Fiorenzo G. Omenetto; Mark I. Rosenblatt; David L. Kaplan

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 597 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1616-5187
• DOI: 10.1002/mabi.200900294

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Effects of hydration on silk fibroin film properties were investigated for water‐annealed and MeOH‐treated samples. Hydration increased thickness by 60% for MeOH‐immersed films, while water‐annealed samples remained constant. MeOH‐immersed films showed an 80% mass loss due to water, while water‐annealed lost only 40%. O~2~ permeability was higher in MeOH‐immersed films with Dk values of 10^−10^ (mL O~2~ · cm) · (cm^−1^ · s^−1^ · mmHg^−1^), while those of water‐annealed films reached only one fifth of this value. All films showed a decrease in Young's modulus and increased plastic deformation by two orders of magnitude when submerged in saline solution. FT‐IR showed that β‐sheet content in water‐annealed films increased with increasing water vapor pressure, while MeOH‐immersed films showed no change.

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