Contents
Silk
Introduction:
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fibers of
silk are mainly composed of fibroin and are produced by the larvae of certain insects to form
cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the mulberry silk moths
kept in captivity. The glossy appearance of silk is due to the triangular prismatic structure of
silk fibers. This allows silk fabrics to refract incident light at different angles and
produce different colors. Silk is produced by some insects. However, in
general, only moth silk was used in textile production. Several studies have been done on other
types of silk that differ at the molecular level. Silk is mainly produced by completely
metamorphosed insect larvae, but some insects, such as web moths and crickets with
claws, produce silk throughout their lives. Silk production also occurs
in Hymenoptera (bees, bees, ants), silverfish, flies, flies,
cicadas, beetles, lizards, fleas, flies, and mosquitoes. Other types of arthropods produce
silk, especially a variety of spiders such as spiders.
History:
Silk production began in China during the Neolithic period but eventually reached elsewhere
in the world (Yangshao culture, 4000 BC). Silk production remained limited to China until
the second half of the 1st millennium BC. The Silk Road opened, but China maintained a
de facto monopoly on silk production for another 1000 years.
Wild Silk:
Some species of wild silk produced by caterpillars other than Morus alba have long been known
and spun in China, South Asia, and Europe. Production of Elysia in Assam, India. However, the
scale of production was always much smaller than that of cultivated silk. There are several
reasons for this. First, the color and texture are different from those of domesticated varieties,
resulting in less uniformity. Second, cocoons collected in the wild are usually pupae
removed before they are found, so the silk threads that make up the cocoons
are torn to shorter lengths. And third, many wild cocoons are covered with a
mineral coating that prevents attempts to spread long silk threads from them. Therefore, in
areas where commercial silk is not cultivated, the only way to spin silk suitable for spinning into
textiles was with boring and labor-intensive cotton carders.
Natural Silk Structures:
Some natural silk structures were used without being rewound or rotated. Cobwebs have been
used as wound dressings in ancient Greece and Rome, and as painted surfaces since the 16th
century. The caterpillar nest was glued to the fabric of the Aztec Empire. Commercial silk is
made from silk moth pupae that have been bred to make white silk threads that are free of
minerals on the surface. Pupae are killed by soaking them in boiling water or by poking them
with a needle before the adults appear. All of these factors contribute to the ability of
the entire cocoon to unravel as one continuous thread, allowing the silk to be woven into a much
stronger fabric. Wild silk also tends to be more difficult to dye than cultivated silk moth silk.
A technique known as desalination allows the removal of the mineral layer around the cocoons of
wild silk moths, leading to the creation of a commercial wild silk-based silk industry
in those parts of the world where wild silk moths are located. Prosper, leaving only the color
change as a barrier. Like Africa and South America.
Silk Industry in China:
The use of silk in fabrics was first developed in ancient China. The earliest evidence of silk is the
presence of fibroin, a silk protein dating back about 8,500 years, in soil samples from two tombs
at the Jiahu Neolithic site in Henan Province. The earliest surviving examples of silk fabrics date
back to 3630 BC. Used as a child’s body cover at the Yangshao cultural site in Qingtaicun near
Xingyang, Henan.
Silk was first developed by:
Legend has it that the Empress Leizu of China (Leizu, Leizu) developed silk. Silk was originally
reserved for use by the Chinese emperor for his own use or as a gift to others, but gradually
through Chinese culture and trade, geographically and socially, and in many parts of
Asia. Spread to. Due to its texture and luster, silk quickly became a popular luxury fabric in
many areas accessible to Chinese merchants. Silk was in high demand and became a staple of
international trade before the Industrial Revolution. Silk was also used as a writing
surface, especially during the Warring States period (475-221 BC). The fabric is lightweight,
withstands the humid climate of the Yangtze River region, accepts ink well, and provides a white
background for the text. In July 2007, archaeologists discovered an intricately woven and dyed
silk fabric at a tomb in Jiangxi Province. This dates back to the Eastern Zhou
dynasty about 2,500 years ago. Although historians doubt the long history of the forming textile
industry in ancient China, this discovery of silk fabrics, which employs “complex techniques” of
weaving and dyeing, is the dating of pre-Mawandui silk and other Han silk. Provides direct
evidence. Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD).
Silk Road:
Silk is described in the chapter of Fan Shengzhi in the Western Han (202 BC-9 AD). Documents
from Eastern Han (AD 25–220) have a surviving calendar for silk production. Two other
known silk works of the Han dynasty have disappeared. The first evidence of long-distance
trade in silk is the discovery of silk in the hair of Egyptian mummies of the 21st dynasty around
1070 BC. The silk trade extended to the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, Europe, and the North
Africa. This trade was so widespread that the main trade route between Europe and
Asia became known as the Silk Road. The Chinese emperor sought to keep his knowledge of silk
moth farming secret in order to maintain China’s monopoly. Nevertheless, silk moth
farming reached South Korea around 200 BC with technical support from China.
Kingdom of Khotan around 50 AD, India around 140 AD. Many civilizations, such as the Eurasian continent
and the ancient Persians, have benefited economically from trade.
Silk in the Indian Subcontinent:
Silk has a long history in India. Known as Resham in East and North India and Pattu
in South India. Recent archaeological discoveries in Harappa and Chanhudalo began in the South
Asia during the Indus Valley Civilization (now Pakistan and India) in 2450 BC, when wild silk
moths from native silk moth species were used to cultivate silk moths. It shows that. The
existing “firm and rapid evidence” of silk production in China in 2000 BC dates back to around
2570 BC. Shelagh Winker, a silk expert at the Ashmolean Museum in
Oxford found evidence of silk production in China “much earlier” than 2500-2000 BC. And they
knew quite a bit about silk.
India is the second largest silk-producing country in the world after China. About 97% of
raw Morus alba comes from six Indian states: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu, and Kashmir,
Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and West Bengal. [26] Northern Bangalore, the fastest-growing
location of the $ 20 million “silk city” of Ramanagara and
Mysore contributes to much of Karnataka’s silk production. In Tamil Nadu, Morus
alba cultivation is concentrated in Coimbatore, Erode, Bagarpri, Tiruppur, Salem and
Dharmapuri districts. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, Gobiketti Parayam, and Tamil Nadu were the
first places in India to set up automatic silk winding lines. In the northeastern part of Assam,
three types of native silk are produced: Muga silk, Eli silk, and Pat silk. These are collectively
called Assam Silk. Muga, golden silk, and Eri are produced by silk
moths that grow only in Assam. Like other Southeast Asian countries, it has been raised for a
long time.
Thai Silk:
Silk is produced by two species of silkworms, the silkworm family, which is cultivated all year
round in Thailand, and the wild silkworm family, Saturniidae. Most of the production takes
place after harvesting rice in the southern and northeastern parts of the country. Traditionally,
a woman weaves silk by hand and hands the craft to her daughter. Weaving is considered a sign
of maturity and marriage. Thai silk textiles often use intricate patterns of different colors and
styles. Most parts of Thailand have their own silk fabrics. Because single-thread filaments
are too thin to be used alone, women combine many threads to make thicker, easier-to-use
fibers. They do this by manually winding the thread around a wooden spindle to create a
uniform strand of raw silk. This process takes about 40 hours to produce 0.5 kilograms of silk.
Many local companies use winders for this task, but some silk is still wound by hand. The
difference is that the hand-wound yarn creates three grades of silk. Two fine grades are
ideal for lightweight fabrics and a thick grade that is ideal for heavy fabrics. The silk fabric is
soaked in extremely cold water, bleached, and then dyed to remove the natural yellowing of
Thai silk threads. To do this, immerse the silk strands in a large bathtub of hydrogen
peroxide. After washing and drying, the silk is woven on a traditional hand-woven loom.
Silk Industry in Bangladesh:
The Rajshahi Division of northern Bangladesh is the hub of the country’s silk industry. There are
three types of silk produced in the region: mulberry, India, and Nassar. Bengali silk was a major
item of international trade for centuries. It was known as Ganges silk in medieval Europe.
Bengal was the leading exporter of silk between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Central Asia:
The 7th century CE murals of Afrasiyab in Samarkand, Sogdiana, show a Chinese Embassy
carrying silk and a string of silkworm cocoons to the local Sogdian ruler.
Middle East:
In the Torah, a scarlet cloth item called in Hebrew “sheni tola’at” literally “crimson of the
worm” – is described as being used in purification ceremonies, such as those following a leprosy
outbreak (Leviticus 14), alongside cedar wood and hyssop (za’atar). Eminent scholar and leading
medieval translator of Jewish sources and books of the Bible into Arabic, Rabbi Saadia Gaon,
translates this phrase explicitly as “crimson silk” In Islamic teachings, Muslim men are forbidden
to wear silk. Many religious jurists believe the reasoning behind the prohibition lies in avoiding
clothing for men that can be considered feminine or extravagant. There are disputes regarding
the amount of silk fabric can consist (e.g., whether a small decorative silk piece on a cotton
caftan is permissible or not) for it to be lawful for men to wear, but the dominant opinion of
most Muslim scholars is that the wearing of silk by men is forbidden. Modern attire has raised a
number of issues, including, for instance, the permissibility of wearing silk neckties, which are
masculine articles of clothing.
Ancient Mediterranean:
In the Odyssey, 19.233, when Odysseus, while pretending to be someone else, is questioned by
Penelope about her husband’s clothing, says that he wore a shirt “gleaming like the skin of a
dried onion” (varies with translations, literal translation here) which could refer to the lustrous
quality of silk fabric. Aristotle wrote of Coa vests, a wild silk textile from Kos. Sea silk from
certain large sea shells was also valued. The Roman Empire knew of and traded in silk, and
Chinese silk was the most highly priced luxury good imported by them. During the reign of
Emperor Tiberius, sumptuary laws were passed that forbade men from wearing silk garments,
but these proved ineffectual. The Historia Augusta mentions that the third-century emperor
Elagabalus was the first Roman to wear garments of pure silk, whereas it had been customary
to wear fabrics of silk/cotton or silk/linen blends. Despite the popularity of silk, the secret of
silk-making only reached Europe around AD 550, via the Byzantine Empire. Contemporary
accounts state that monks working for the emperor Justinian I smuggled silkworm eggs to
Constantinople from China inside hollow canes. All top-quality looms and weavers were located
inside the Great Palace complex in Constantinople, and the cloth produced was used in imperial
robes or in diplomacy, as gifts to foreign dignitaries. The remainder was sold at very high prices.
North America:
Wild silk from native caterpillar nests was used by the Aztecs to make containers and as
paper. Silk moths were brought from Spain to Oaxaca in the 1530s, and the
region benefited from silk production until the early 17th century when the King of Spain
banned exports to protect the Spanish silk industry. The production of locally consumed silk
continues to this day, sometimes with wild silk being spun. James, I introduced silk cultivation to
the British colonies of the United States around 1619, apparently to discourage
tobacco cultivation. The Kentucky shaker took over the practice.
Silk is largely tied to the US:
The history of industrial silk in the United States is mainly related to some small city centers in
the northeast. Manchester, Connecticut became the center of the American silk industry in the
In the 1830s, when Chainy Brothers were the first in the United States to properly breed silk moths on
an industrial scale. Today, the Chainy Brothers Historic District is exhibiting its former mill.
During the decade of the Morus alba epidemic, other small producers began breeding silk
moths. The economy gained momentum, especially near Williamsburg, adjacent to Northern
Massachusetts, where many small businesses and co-operatives were born. Among the most
prominent was the collaborative Utopian Education Industry Association, to which Sojourner
The truth was a member. After the devastating flood of the Mill River in 1874, the owner of the
mill, William Skinner, moved the mill from Williamsburg to the then-new town of Holyoke. Over
the next 50 years, he and his sons fostered a relationship between the
American silk industry
and the corresponding industry in Japan, and by 1911 the Skinner Mill Complex would
include the world’s largest silk factory under one roof. We have expanded our business too. The
Skinner Fabric brand has become the largest producer of silk sateen internationally. Other
efforts in the second half of the 19th century brought a new silk industry to Paterson, NJ.
There, several companies hired European-born textile workers and earned the nickname “Silk
City” is another major manufacturing center in the United States.
Malaysia:
In Terengganu, now part of Malaysia, second-generation silk moths were imported into
Malaysia’s silk industry, especially Songket, as early as 1764. However, since the 1980s,
Malaysia has stopped breeding silk moths and is planting Morus alba trees.
Production Process:
The silk production process is called silk moth farming. The entire silk manufacturing process
can usually be divided into several steps performed by different entities. Extraction of raw
silk begins with cultivating silk moths on Morus alba leaves. As soon as the
worms pupate in the cocoons, they dissolve in boiling water, pulling out individual long fibers
and sending them to a spinning reel. To produce 1 kg of silk, 3000 silk moths need to eat 104 kg
of Morus alba leaves. It takes about 5,000 silk moths to make a pure silk kimono.
The largest silk-producing countries are China (54%) and India (14%). Other statistics. The
environmental impact of silk production is potentially significant compared to other natural
fibers. Lifecycle analysis of silk production in India is mainly due to the fact that it is an animal-derived fiber and requires more inputs such as fertilizer and water per unit of produced fiber. It
shows that the process has a large carbon and water footprint.
Physical Properties:
Silk moth silk fibers have a triangular cross-section, rounded corners, and a width of 5-10
μm. The fibroin heavy chain is mainly composed of beta sheets due to the 59 mer amino acid
repeat sequence, but there are some variations. The flat surface of the fibril reflects light at
many angles, giving the silk a natural luster. Cross sections of other silk moths may differ in
shape and diameter. In the case of Anafi, it is a crescent shape, and in the case of Tassa, it is
an elongated wedge. The silk moth fibers are naturally extruded from the two silk moth glands
as a pair of primary filaments (brins) and glued together with a sericin protein that acts like an
adhesive to form a web. The loop diameter of Tassa silk can reach 65 μm.
See references for cross-section SEM photographs.
Silk Texture:
Silk has a smooth and soft texture, and unlike many synthetic fibers, it is not slippery. Silk is one
of the strongest natural fibers, but loses up to 20% strength when wet. Has
excellent moisture absorption of 11%. Its elasticity is moderate to poor: when it is
stretched even a little, it remains stretched. It can be weakened when exposed
to excessive sunlight. It can also be attacked by insects, especially if left dirty. An example of
silk durability against other fabrics is shown by the recovery of silk garments from 1840
shipwreck. Because, besides the cloak and lace, there were black sateen trousers and a
large sateen waistcoat with flaps, the silk was perfect, but the lining was completely gone …
the wool cloth is Not found yet. Silk has low electrical conductivity, which makes it susceptible to
static electricity. Silk has a high emissivity of infrared rays and becomes cool to the touch.
Unwashed silk chiffon can shrink up to 8% due to the relaxation of the macrostructure of the
fibers, so the silk should be washed or dry-cleaned before making garments. Chiffon can be
shrunk by up to 4% even with dry cleaning. Occasionally, this shrinkage can
be undone by gently steaming with a press cloth. There is almost no gradual contraction or
contraction due to deformation at the molecular level. Natural and synthetic silks are known
to exhibit piezoelectric properties in proteins, probably due to their molecular structure. Silk
moth silk was used as the standard for denier, a measure of fiber linear density. Therefore, the
titer of silk moth silk is about 1den or 1.1dtex.
Chemical Properties:
The silk released by silkworms is composed of two major proteins, sericin, and
fibroin, where fibroin is the structural center of silk and selection is the sticky material that
surrounds it. Fibroin is composed of the amino acids Gly-Ser-Gly-Ala-Gly-Ala and
forms a beta-sheet. Hydrogen bonds are formed between the chains and side chains are
formed above and below the level of the hydrogen bond network. Due to the high proportion
of glycine (50%), the high-density filling is possible. This is because the R group of
glycine is just hydrogen and is therefore not sterically restricted. Adding alanine and serine
makes the fibers stronger and less likely to break. This tensile strength is due to a large
number of hydrogen bonds intervening, and even if a force is applied to these many
bonds, they will not break. Silk is resistant to most mineral acids, except for sulfuric acid, which
dissolves them. It is yellowing with sweat. Chlorine bleach also destroys silk fabrics.
Animal Rights:
Silk moth farming has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists because the larvae
are boiled and killed when harvesting silk from the cocoons. Mahatma Gandhi was critical
of the production of silk based on Ahimsa’s philosophy. As a result, cotton and Ahimsa Silk, a
type of wild silk made from wild and semi-wild silk moth cocoons, were touted.
Because silk moths kill silk moths, people for the ethical treatment of animals (PETA) are
urging people not to buy silk products