Spider silk would be ideal for making fabrics that are strong, lightweight and tough. It is one of the strongest known natural fibres. As well as making webs to catch insects (1), spiders use silk to wrap their prey, to make nests, to wrap eggs or sperm, to ‘sail’ through the air, and to support their own weight. The strongest silk is used for draglines (2), where a spider of mass 0.5 g can be supported by a single thread not much more than 2 μm in diameter. Steel has a similar strength (ultimate tensile stress) (3) but has a higher density and is much stiffer (4).
The coiled structure of spider silk means that it can typically undergo a strain of about 40% without breaking; some silks can be extended to several times their original length (5, 6). Even nylon has a limit of about 20%.
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