The properties of a polymer are strongly influenced by its morphology. In the case of fibers from semicrystalline polymers this consists of the degree of crystallinity, the spacing and alignment of the crystalline regions, and molecular orientation of the polymer chains in the amorphous regions. Information on crystallinity and orientation can be obtained from X-ray analysis. In-situ X-ray char...

In spite of all the efforts on deciphering such spinning process of spiders, the underlying mechanism currently is yet to be fully revealed. In this research, we designed a novel approach to quantitatively estimate the overall concentration change of spider silk along the progression of liquid-to-solid silk transition from the gland silk. As a prior characterization, we first studied the influe...

Evidence is presented here that cupric ions play a part in the natural spinning of Bombyx mori silk. Proton induced X-ray emission studies revealed that the copper content increased from the posterior part to the anterior part of silk gland, and then further increased in the silk fiber. Spectrophotometric analysis demonstrated that cupric ions formed coordination complexes with silk fibroin cha...

Urease activity was detected in the hemolymph of the silkworm, Bombyx mori from the beginning of spinning to the pharate adult stage if the larvae were reared on mulberry leaves throughout the 5th-instar (the last larval instar). In contrast, no urease activity was detected in the hemolymph of insects fed artificial diets, resulting in accumulation of urea during the spinning stage. To identify...

Sm(CobalFe0.1CuxZr0.03)7 (x = 0.0–0.25) ribbons have been prepared by melt spinning. The effects of annealing parameters on coercivity and its temperature dependence have been studied systematically. It is found that the melt-spinning technique remarkably improves the magnetic properties and simplifies the annealing process. The high-performance precipitation-hardened magnets can be obtained by...

residual stresses resulting from rapid quenching of molten metal in melt spinning process can be removed by structural relaxation of samples at temperatures lower than the crystallization temperature in order to improve the magnetic properties. in this research, amorphous fe78si9b13 ribbons (metglas 2605s2 used in transformer cores) with the thickness of 26 µm were prepared by chill block melt ...