Plasma Treatment Of Mulberry Silk Fibers And Its Weighting Properties

The morphology, aggregate structure and mechanical properties of mulberry silk fibers, which are modified with the low temperature oxygen plasma, are studied in this paper. The results show that after the treatment, indentations and cracks appear in the surface of the silk fibers and fibrillar structure of the silk fibers becomes distinct. The weight and strength of the silk fibers drop after the treatment, while at the beginning of the treatment the elasticity of the silk fibers increases. The crystallization degree of the silk fibers decreases after the plasma treatment.Weighting properties of the mulberry silk fibers after the low temperature oxygen treatment are also studied. Stannic acid is used to characterize the microvoids in the silk fibers. It is found out that the plasma treatment makes the stannic acid gel fill in the inner part of the silk fibers easily and improves the weighting ability of the silk fibers, which indicates that the microvoids appear in the silk fibers. The aggregate structure of silk fibers changes and the crystallization degree of the silk fibers decreases after low temperature oxygen plasma- stannic acid weighting treatment.The weighting ability of the mulberry silk fibers after the slight dissolution (calcium chloride, alcohol, water system treatment,45 ,1min)- low temperature oxygen plasma treatment is studied in Chapter 5. The weighting ability of the silk fibers after slight dissolution- low temperature oxygen plasma treatment is superior to the silk fibers after the slight dissolution treatment, which proves there are more microvoids in the silk fibers.