Researchers in China have successfully genetically modified silkworms to produce spider silk. The silk fibres produced were 6 times tougher than the Kevlar used in bulletproof vests.
Silk tougher than Kevlar thanks to genetically modified silkworms::Researchers in China have successfully genetically modified silkworms to produce spider silk. The silk fibres produced were 6 times tougher than the Kevlar used in bulletproof vests.
For anyone else that isn’t an engineer and also doesn’t know, toughness is a defined term in material science.
Toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform without fracturing. One definition of material toughness is the amount of energy per unit volume that a material can absorb before rupturing. It is also defined as a material’s resistance to fracture when stressed.
Sounds like it’d work better than kevlar for armor.
I thought the article was being lazy by saying “tougher” but TIL that’s the scientific term.
I think it’s more practical in terms of being used for layering with kevlar to reduce overall weight of a piece of body armor. While at the same time making it cheaper and more cost effective than traditional body armor materials as mentioned in the article.
So rather than this being used as an upgrade to kevlar (which with more testing it might be able too) it’s more like a side grade to reduce costs, as mentioned in the article silkworm silk is already used on a commercial and industrial level for other applications.
Granted it’ll probably be a good few years before the silk being made by these genetically modified worms is both made consistently and is more refined with further testing and then distributed. But still it’s something that material scientists will likely put to good use for reducing costs in lots of fields.
I don’t know the material science so I may be a bit off base, but but since kevlar is a synthetic fiber I’m assuming it’s made from petrochemicals and probably a source of microplastic pollution. So there’s probably an environmental aspect to consider. Even if it’s not actually more effective for it’s role, the fact that it’s tougher could be a useful marketing buzzword to get people to switch who wouldn’t care about the environmental impact and maybe even justify an inflated price.
Also while body armor is probably by far the best known use for kevlar it does have other uses like in composite materials in a similar fashion to things like fiberglass. Shaving a couple ounces off a part that might otherwise have been made of kevlar by switching to silk might be attractive to certain fields, maybe we’d see high end racing sailboats with silk sails or something (not that I think that’s a very important use, but for some reason I know some boats have kevlar sails so that came to mind)
One day a hungry staff decided to snack on one of those fat worm. Wonder what they taste like he said. This is how the Wonder Worm was born, knives or bullets nothing can go through his skins. An incredible tough superhero though eating and napping occupy most of his days.
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I’m picturing police uniforms that resemble 90’s era club kids. The future looks bright folks.
Can’t wait to get silk woofers. 🔊
For anyone else that isn’t an engineer and also doesn’t know, toughness is a defined term in material science.
Sounds like it’d work better than kevlar for armor.
I thought the article was being lazy by saying “tougher” but TIL that’s the scientific term.
removed by mod
I think it’s more practical in terms of being used for layering with kevlar to reduce overall weight of a piece of body armor. While at the same time making it cheaper and more cost effective than traditional body armor materials as mentioned in the article.
So rather than this being used as an upgrade to kevlar (which with more testing it might be able too) it’s more like a side grade to reduce costs, as mentioned in the article silkworm silk is already used on a commercial and industrial level for other applications.
Granted it’ll probably be a good few years before the silk being made by these genetically modified worms is both made consistently and is more refined with further testing and then distributed. But still it’s something that material scientists will likely put to good use for reducing costs in lots of fields.
I don’t know the material science so I may be a bit off base, but but since kevlar is a synthetic fiber I’m assuming it’s made from petrochemicals and probably a source of microplastic pollution. So there’s probably an environmental aspect to consider. Even if it’s not actually more effective for it’s role, the fact that it’s tougher could be a useful marketing buzzword to get people to switch who wouldn’t care about the environmental impact and maybe even justify an inflated price.
Also while body armor is probably by far the best known use for kevlar it does have other uses like in composite materials in a similar fashion to things like fiberglass. Shaving a couple ounces off a part that might otherwise have been made of kevlar by switching to silk might be attractive to certain fields, maybe we’d see high end racing sailboats with silk sails or something (not that I think that’s a very important use, but for some reason I know some boats have kevlar sails so that came to mind)
One day a hungry staff decided to snack on one of those fat worm. Wonder what they taste like he said. This is how the Wonder Worm was born, knives or bullets nothing can go through his skins. An incredible tough superhero though eating and napping occupy most of his days.
John wick bulletproof suits here we come.
Yes, but you still need the gold coin to buy them
I’m glad that we have unlimited Kevlar instead of unlimited food lmao
Just eat the kevlar silkworms
I mean, they do get boiled. Maybe it’s a tasty soup!
Chinese got the food and people logistics sorted, too.
Speed trains go bzzzz
Pimp suits that offer protection!
Sooooooo, space elevator?
“GET ME PICTURES OF SPIDERMAN!”