Sonic properties of spider silks are measured independent of the web using laser vibrometry and ballistic impact providing insights into Nature's design of functionalized high-performance materials. Through comparison to cocoon silk and other industrial fibers, we find that major ampullate silk has the largest wavespeed range of any known material.
Keywords:
Silk
,Materials Testing
,Oscillometry
,Sound
,Scattering, Radiation
,Models, Chemical
,Computer Simulation
,Elastic Modulus