Environmentally friendly material - a substitute for genuine leather. Free Technical Library News

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Environmentally friendly material - a substitute for genuine leather

08.05.2021

Researchers at the Tufts University School of Engineering have found an alternative to natural leather in the form of an eco-friendly, non-toxic, environmentally friendly material. Its key component was known before - it is silk, the threads of which are woven into the fabric. However, the new technology of using silk has made it possible to create a material similar to leather with the same properties in terms of flexibility, rigidity and texture.

Silk is a soft natural fabric obtained by weaving threads from the cocoon of a silkworm (butterfly of the true silkworm family). Its homeland is China, where butterflies began to be domesticated as early as the 400th-1500rd millennium BC. e. A silk thread from one cocoon can reach 20-30 m in length with a thickness of XNUMX-XNUMX microns.

Silk fiber has a protein nature - it consists of 25% sericin and 75% fibroin. Moreover, sericin is typical only for silkworm caterpillars, and fibroin is secreted by various insects, including spiders that weave cobwebs from it. With a detailed study of the silk fiber under a microscope, one can see how two parallel strands of fibroin are covered with a coating of sericin. Other components of silk include minerals, waxes, and fats.

Unlike other analogues of leather, the manufacture of silk-based material involves more gentle and safe technologies. In addition to raw materials, water, mild chemicals are used in the manufacture of non-toxic waste. Silk filaments in a water-based suspension are decomposed into individual protein components.

Now these proteins can be used to obtain new material. Flexibility and strength are provided by applying a layer of chitosan - a natural component that is obtained from the shells of crabs, shrimp and lobsters. Silk leather is created using the printing method. By changing the pattern on the material layer, you can achieve a different appearance, adjust the strength and other physical properties.

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