Observation of water-stimulated supercontraction of uniaxially oriented poly(vinylalcohol) and the related hierarchical structure change revealed bythe time-resolved waxd/saxs measurements...film was foundfor the first time to respond to the humidity change in the two differentmodes under the restrained condition, which are essentially the sameas the modes of the supercontraction and cyclic contraction observedin spider dragline silk....
Molecular dynamics analysis of supercontraction in spider dragline silk... Dragline silk has the unusual tendency of shrinking by up to 50% when exposed to high humidity, a phenomenon called supercontraction....
The hidden link between supercontraction and mechanical behavior of spider silks... Previously, the variability in the mechanical properties of natural silk fibers was a major drawback in the elucidation of their behavior, but the authors have found that supercontraction of these fibers allows one to characterize and reproduce the whole range of tensile properties in a consistent way....
Unravelingthe molecular requirements for macroscopicsilk supercontraction... Aless known feature of some dragline silk fibers is that they shrinkalong the main axis by up to 50% when exposed to high humidity, aphenomenon called supercontraction....
