Abstract
In this communication a mechanism for spider silk strain hardening is proposed. Shear failure of β-sheet nanocrystals is the first failure mode that gives rise to the creation of smaller nanocrystals, which are of higher strength and stiffness. β-sheet unfolding requires more energy than nanocrystal separation in a shear mode of failure. As a result, unfolding occurs after the nanocrystals separate in shear. β-sheet unfolding yields a secondary strain hardening effect once the β-sheet conformation is geometrically stable and acts like a unidirectional fibre in a fibre reinforced composite. The mechanism suggested herein is based on molecular dynamics calculations of residual inter-β-sheet separation strengths against residual intra-β-sheet unfolding strengths
| Original language | Undefined/Unknown |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | – |
| Journal | Advances in Natural Sciences: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |