Abstract-Structural changes of Bombyx mori fibroin from silk gland to fiber as evidenced by Terahertz spectroscopy and other methods

• Xu Wu^a, 
• Xiaodong Wu^a, 
• Min Shao^b, 
• Bin Yang^a, b, , 

• ^a College of Materials and Textile, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
• ^b Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Materials and Manufacturing Technology, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141813017311303

Here we investigated the structural changes of silk fibroin during Bombyx mori silkworm spinning and reconstitution process. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, polarized optical microscopy, and terahertz (THz) spectroscopy were applied to monitor the structural features of silk fibroin from posterior, middle silk glands, to cocoons, and then to reconstituted silk.