(Poster session/Short oral-presentation) High-temperature materials processing

[2607-23-17] Functional Modification of Silk Fibroin Materials for Resource Utilization

○Shota Akioka¹, Yuri Matsumoto¹, Momoka Kuwabara¹, Yasumoto Nakazawa¹ (1. Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology)

Chairperson：岸本 章宏 （京都大学）

Keywords:silk fibroin, biodegradable material, crystal structure, protein, composite material

Silk fiber produced by domesticated silkworms is a natural fiber produced at a rate of several hundred thousand tons per year for material products. Most waste, such as used products, short threads, and half-finished products generated during the production process, is landfilled or incinerated because there is no effective way to recycle it. Silk fibroin (SF) protein, the main component of silk fiber, exhibits biocompatibility and biodegradability and is being studied for application in tissue engineering materials and environmentally friendly materials. However, SF is a highly rigid polymer due to the abundance of (GAGAGS) repetitive sequences consisting of the amino acids glycine (G), alanine (A), and serine (S), which limits its applications. The (GAGAGS) regions form a crystal structure through hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions, leading to high stiffness. If this crystal structure can be controlled, material functions such as mechanical properties and biodegradability can be modified, and applications can be expanded. In this presentation, we will report the results of our attempts to modify the material functions by two methods: modifying the crystal regions with molecular chains and compositing them with biodegradable materials.