Rheology of Self-Assembling Silk Fibroin Solutions

摘要

A robust procedure for preparation of aqueous silk fibroin solutions with a range of concentration up to 25 wt% from domestic Bombyx mori cocoon shells has been established. We have carried out molecular and rheometric characterizations of silk fibroin solutions, and constructed an equilibrium phase diagram. The sharp sol-gel transition can be exploited for rapid solidification of micro-morphological structure. We will discuss the correlations between fluid formulation, rheological properties and processibility of silk fibroin in the talk.