Compression and heat-assisted production of silk-based materials
AssigneeTrustees of Tufts College
InventorsDavid L. Kaplan, Fiorenzo G. Omenetto, Chunmei Li, Chengchen Guo
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Abstract
In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides methods including the steps of (i) providing silk fibroin material comprising substantially amorphous structure, and (ii) applying at least one of elevated temperature and elevated pressure to the silk fibroin material to form a silk fibroin article, wherein the applying induces fusion between at least a portion of the silk fibroin and structural change of fibroin in the silk fibroin material. In some embodiments, the present disclosure also provides silk fibroin articles made in accordance with the methods disclosed herein.
Claims16
A silk fibroin article comprising semi-crystalline silk fibroin, wherein the silk fibroin article has a glass transition temperature between about 40° C. to 120° C., wherein a flexural strength of the silk fibroin article is at least 5 MPa and density of the entire silk fibroin article is at least 1.20 g/cm3.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.