Spider Silk is 5x Stronger than Steel

Ounce for ounce, spider silk is five times stronger than steel.

"Spider silk may seem fragile, but it actually has a tensile strength that is a whopping five times more than steel! Scientists have been trying to replicate and harness the properties of the elusive material for years and now researchers from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and the University of Bayreuth have actually unlocked the secret of how spiders construct the elastic fibers. Armed with this new knowledge, they're planning to build an artificial spinning apparatus that will mimic a spider's silk glands, which could eventually lead to a material that could have an unlimited number of applications from medical to construction."

http://inhabitat.com/scientists-unlock-secret-of-spider-silk-which-is-5-times...

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• arachnid
• spider
• silk
• nature
• science
• NRC
• howdoweknow
• sutures

[lukacs1130]

Many other groups have produced spider silk PROTEIN but have been unable to spin it into anything stronger than ordinary silk. Kraig Biocraft Laboratories in the US has produced spider silk protein in transgenic silkworms that spin fiber 80% as strong as true spider silk and is near to going into mass production of this product while they work to improve the silkworm product to be as strong or stronger than a spider's own silk.