Molecular deformation in spider dragline silk subjected to stress

It is demonstrated that well-defined Raman spectra can be obtained from the dragline silk of the spider Nephila edulis, and that the Raman bands also shift when the silk fibre is subject to mechanical deformation. This indica tes that the protein molecules in the spider silk fibre undergo direct mole cular deformation when the fibre is stretched. Hence, we demonstrate that t he deformation behaviour of this natural polymer fibre is similar to that o f high-performance synthetic polymer fibres. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.