AUTHOR=Greco Gabriele , Wolff Jonas O. , Pugno Nicola M. 

TITLE=Strong and Tough Silk for Resilient Attachment Discs: The Mechanical Properties of Piriform Silk in the Spider Cupiennius salei (Keyserling, 1877)

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Materials

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/materials/articles/10.3389/fmats.2020.00138

DOI=10.3389/fmats.2020.00138

ISSN=2296-8016

ABSTRACT=Spiders are able to produce different types of silk with different mechanical and biological properties. Piriform silk is produced to secure spiders and their webs to surfaces by using a multi-fibrils system embedded in a cement-like matrix. Despite their fundamental role, the mechanical properties and function of these anchorages are still poorly understood due to the practical difficulties in sample preparation, the complexity of the system and the high variation of attachment disc structures.  Here we estimated the mechanical properties of  silk and those of the whole silk membrane in the large wandering spider Cupiennius salei through a combination of nanoindentation and nanotensile techniques and with the support of a simple analytical model. The results highlight the mechanical properties of the piriform silk, facilitating the modelling of silk composite mechanics. This could inspire the design of more efficient bio-inspired adhesives and fabrics.