Silk fibers microscopy

Miller, L.D., Putthanarat, S., Eby, R.K., and Adams, W.W. "Investigation of the nanofibrillar morphology in silk fibers by small angle X-ray scattering and atomic force microscopy". Int. ]. Biol Macromol. 24(2-3), 159-165 (1999). 

Reports of textiles recovered from marine sites are uncommon. Wool and flax fibers from the Mary Rose and the Wasa have been identified employing optical and scanning electron microscopy (/5). The fiber content of the sails of the Wasa were identified as "vegetable but the method for fiber identification was not described 14). Morris and Seifert (75) describe treatment of textiles from the Defence with oxalic acid but do not indicate how they identified the linen, hemp, and silk fibers that they report are present. Conservation treatment of a silk cocade from the Michault was described 16). 

In an attempt to document the effect of the deep ocean environment on textile materials, modem materials were immersed at the site on the ocean floor for subsequent retrieval. While one set of samples was recovered after a three month period, additional samples have remained on the ocean floor since 1991 and are yet to be retrieved. The morphology of cellulosic fibers immersed for a three-month period has been investigated (S), The physical and chemical structure of dyed and undyed cotton fibers from the site compared with those of modem cotton and of cotton immersed on the ocean floor for three months were reported (70,77). Results of preliminary analyses on silk fibers using differential scanning calorimetry, energy dispersive x-ray spectoscopy, and scanning electron microscopy, have been reported (72). 

As a curiosity, spider and caterpillar silk were electrospun into nanofibers and characterized by electron microscopy [332, 333]. The diameter of these silk nanofibers ranged from about 6.5 to 300 nm, making them several orders of magnitudes smaller than the silk fibers spun by silkworms or by many kinds of spiders. Electron diffraction patterns of annealed electrospun nanofibers exhibited diffraction peaks with the molecules aligned along the axis of the fiber with a crystalline order comparable to that of naturally spun silks. 

Pseudomorphs on a bronze Shang Dynasty halberd (ca. 1300 b.c.) were subjected to mineralogical analysis to determine their structure and composition. X-Ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive analysis of x-rays were used in these analyses. Photomicrographs of pseudomorphs also were studied for fiber, yam, and fabric formations that give evidence of textiles. A model describing the process of silk pseudomorph formation was proposed. 

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