Abstract In the present study we demonstrate how the sensitive property of the constituent parts of silkworm silk fiber can be applied to the field of soft composite materials. It concerns the structural and intrinsic functional characteristics of silk vs. the macroscopic property and the realization of functional composites. Silk fiber reinforced silicone rubber (SR) composites have been fabricated with different fiber lengths. The key structural features of silk made of stiff nanocrystals, including hydrogen bonded β-strands and β-sheet nanocrystals, when embedded in a softer matrix demonstrate that the tensile strength as well as the stiffness of the composites are higher than those measured for SR reinforced with synthetic polyether-ether-ketone fibers. Moreover, the intrinsic luminescence of protein nanocrystals permits the direct observation of the deformation with accurate measurement of the strain in the composite. Based on the intrinsic properties of such natural hierarchical material, these findings will allow to transfer the engineering of composite materials, particularly, soft functional composites, to a new applications ranging from strain measurements in biological tissue to monitoring tool in structural composites.

中文翻译：

---

蚕丝纤维与PEEK增强橡胶发光应变片和可拉伸复合材料

摘要 在本研究中，我们展示了蚕丝纤维组成部分的敏感特性如何应用于软复合材料领域。它涉及丝绸的结构和内在功能特性与宏观特性以及功能复合材料的实现。已经制造出具有不同纤维长度的丝纤维增强硅橡胶 (SR) 复合材料。由硬纳米晶体制成的丝绸的关键结构特征，包括氢键结合的 β 链和 β 片状纳米晶体，当嵌入较软的基质中时，表明复合材料的拉伸强度和刚度高于 SR 增强的测量值与合成聚醚-醚-酮纤维。而且，蛋白质纳米晶体的本征发光允许直接观察变形并准确测量复合材料中的应变。基于这种天然分层材料的内在特性，这些发现将允许将复合材料的工程设计，特别是软功能复合材料，转移到从生物组织中的应变测量到结构复合材料中的监测工具的新应用中。