Effect of electric field on mulberry (bivoltine) and tassar fibres

摘要

Effect of AC electric field on mulberry (bivoltine) and tassar silk fibres has been studied using X-ray scattering technique. Microstructural parameters are computed using line profile analysis for fibres subjected to various magnitudes of AC electric fields. Crystallite shape ellipsoids obtained from these analyses have been compared. By adopting the axial stress equation for a fibre, the findings have been used to explain the behaviour of silk in the presence of an external electric field. The variations in microstructural parameters of the samples in the applied electric field gradient reveal the fact that there is deformation of samples from the varying electric field which is equivalent to a non-hydrodynamic compression. The increase in the elastic modulus parameters is due to two factors, namely (i) the presence of varying electric field and (ii) the polymer network (crystallite) strengthening.