We deduce a microstructure inspired model for humidity and temperature effects on the mechanical response of spider silks, modeled as a composite material with a hard crystalline and a soft amorphous region. Water molecules decrease the percentage of crosslinks in the softer region inducing a variation of natural length of the macromolecules. The resulting kinematic incompatibility between the regions crucially influences the final mechanical response. We demonstrate the predictivity of the model by quantitatively reproducing the experimentally observed behavior.
Spider Silks Mechanics: Predicting Humidity and Temperature Effects / Fazio, Vincenzo; De Tommasi, Domenico; Maria Pugno, Nicola; Puglisi, Giuseppe. - In: JOURNAL OF THE MECHANICS AND PHYSICS OF SOLIDS. - ISSN 0022-5096. - STAMPA. - 164:(2022). [10.1016/j.jmps.2022.104857]
Spider Silks Mechanics: Predicting Humidity and Temperature Effects
Domenico De TommasiMembro del Collaboration Group
;Giuseppe Puglisi
Supervision
2022-01-01
Abstract
We deduce a microstructure inspired model for humidity and temperature effects on the mechanical response of spider silks, modeled as a composite material with a hard crystalline and a soft amorphous region. Water molecules decrease the percentage of crosslinks in the softer region inducing a variation of natural length of the macromolecules. The resulting kinematic incompatibility between the regions crucially influences the final mechanical response. We demonstrate the predictivity of the model by quantitatively reproducing the experimentally observed behavior.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
