Brown recluse spider to be used in SPACE for new super strong equipment
GETTY Brown recluse spider is to be used in space to help develop new super strong equipment
The notorious brown recluse not only packs a deadly bite but spins one of the strongest webs in nature. It is the way that a spider blamed for inflicting flesh-rotting wounds that can cause gangrene also creates silk threads unlike any other arachnid that is exciting Oxford University academics.
A new UK-US collaborative study has discovered why the brown recluse spiders’ webs are remarkably strong, and how this could lead to a new generation of super materials. Unlike the round ribbons of threads produced by most spiders to build their feeding webs and nest chambers, the recluse uses a “micro looping technique with its thin, flat silk". The result is that the thread created is extra strong and could one day be used to inspire space travel equipment.
GETTY The brown recluse is one of the planet’s most venomous spiders
Professor Fritz Vollrath, of the Department of Zoology at Oxford University, aid: “Computer simulations demonstrate that fibres with many loops would be much, much tougher than those without loops.
Unlike all spiders its silk is not round, but a thin, nano-scale flat ribbon Professor Fritz Vollrath
“This right away suggests possible applications. For example, carbon filaments could be looped to make them less brittle, and thus allow their use in novel impact absorbing structures. “One example would be spider-like webs of carbon-filaments floating in outer space, to capture the drifting space debris that endangers astronaut lives’ and satellite integrity.”
GETTY The UK-US collaboration he spiders web could hold the key to creating super strong equipment
Putting an outer space spin on an arachnid survival strategy is the result of a study between researchers at Oxford University’s Department of Zoology and a team from the Applied Science Department at Virginia’s College of William & Mary, published today in the journal, Material Horizons. It was by watching how the recluse spiders make their extra strong silk and then using computers to apply the technique to synthetic material that scientists were able to confirm how even adding a single loop to a thread enhances its strength. Professor Hannes Schniepp from William & Mary said: “The theory of knots adding strength is well proven.
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“But adding loops to synthetic filaments always seems to lead to premature fibre failure. “Observation of the recluse spider provided the breakthrough solution; unlike all spiders its silk is not round, but a thin, nano-scale flat ribbon. “The ribbon shape adds the flexibility needed to prevent premature failure, so that all the microloops can provide additional strength to the strand.” One of the researchers on the 'Toughness-enhancing metastructure in the recluse spider’s looped ribbon silk' project was William & Mary PhD student Sean Koebley, who added: “We were able to prove that adding even a single loop significantly enhances the toughness of a simple synthetic sticky tape. "Our observations open the door to new fibre technology inspired by the brown recluse.”
GETTY One use could be to capture the drifting space debris that endangers astronaut lives’