The Effect of Coagulant and Molecular Weight on the Wet Spinnability of Regenerated Silk Fibroin solution

The regenerated silk fibroin with various molecular weights (MW) was prepared by different dissolution condition and the effect of coagulant on the wet spinnability of the various MW silk fibroin solutions dissolved in formic acid was investigated by the observation of wet spun filament in coagulant and the measurement of maximum draw ratio. The observation on the wet spun filament in coagulation bath revealed that good fibers without bead were formed in a high MW and a very high MW silk fibroin samples. In contrast, beads were observed in the silk fibroin sample with medium MW. The maximum draw ratio of wet spun silk fibroin filament decreased with MW reduction. The decrease of maximum draw ratio in isopropanol, acetone, DMF and THF was remarkably higher than that in methanol and ethanol, indicating that the coagulant type strongly influenced the wet spinnability. The two simple evaluation methods used in this study showed complementary information for wet spinnability: (a) The observation of filament in coagulant was effective to check a continuous fiber formation and a bead formation, and (b) the maximum draw ratio measurement was useful to examine the post drawing ability related to molecular orientation.