Fig. 3: Remarkable mechanical properties.
a, Three-point bending curves for fused silk fabricated at different temperatures and 0.2 GPa. b, Tensile curves for fused silk fabricated at different temperatures and 0.2 GPa. c, Comparison of strength and modulus of fused silk and silk-based materials reported in the scientific literature. B, bending test; C, compression test; T, tensile test (Supplementary Table 2). d, Ashby plot comparing the specific stiffness and strength of fused silk with other natural and synthetic materials27,47. e, Finite element simulation of fused silk with varying strengths of fusion. Red elements denote failed regions; blue elements represent intact areas. The accompanying photographs show tensile fracture cross-sections of fused silk fabricated at 95 °C, 125 °C and 185 °C under 0.2 GPa. The stress–strain curves predicted by the simulations illustrate the mechanical responses of fused silk with different fused strengths. f, Comparison of ballistic specific energy absorption of UD and [0/90] fused silk materials with widely used materials: ABS, Al and CFRP. Data are presented as mean ± s.d. (n = 3 independent specimens for fused silk materials). g, A comparison of the performance of fused silk, solution-derived silk-based materials and GFRP composites (Supplementary Table 7).
