Researchers uncover how spider silk reaches 1.5 GPa strength

Researchers are studying how spider silk forms fibers with tensile strength up to 1.5 GPa, comparable to high-grade steel. The main hurdle is spinning liquid silk protein into solid thread at scale; a team at SLU has a €200,000 H&M Foundation grant to test yarn and textiles.

• Silk's tensile strength reaches 1.5 GPa, or 150 N per square millimeter
• Spiders yield little silk and are cannibalistic, so farming them is impractical
• SLU received €200,000 from the H&M Foundation for yarn and textile tests
• In nature the protein passes through a narrow duct and assembles into beta-sheets