Cocoon

by

Biomimmicry

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 MULTI-LAYER STRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
CHAPTER 2 THERMAL INSULATION
CHAPTER 3 HUMIDITY TRAP AND WATER BARRIER
CHAPTER 4 PERMEABILITY (POROSITY & TURTUOSITY)
REFERENCES

egg

larva

pupa

OVERVIEW
In nature, very thin and lightweight silkworm cocoons can protect silkworm from physical
attacks from predators or the environment while supporting their metabolism activity. Their
biogical functions such as defence against natural enemies, thermal regulation, and antibacterial function are essential for the survival of silkworm residing inside.

COCOON
A cocoon is a multilayer composite material formed by continuous twin silk filaments (fibroin)
bonded by silk gum (sericin), raw protein polymers to make silk. The process of silk spinning
and cocoon building has evolved over thousands of years through natural selection.

BUILDING PROPERTIES OF COCOON (FIBROIN & SERICIN)

The sericin protein can be cross-linked, copolymerised, and blended with other
macromolecular materials, especially artificial polymers, to produce materials with improved
properties. It acts as an adhesive to maintain the random fibre and the multi-layer structure
in the whole cocoon.
The silk protein fibroin can be suitably fabricated into scaffolds that embrace much higher
compressive strength over those made from other naturally derived materials such as
collagen and chitosan. For most of the cocoon types, the fibre bonding length is smaller for
the cocoon inner surface than the outer surface.

CALCIUM OXALATE
Calcium oxalate crystals are found to deposit on the outer surfaces of cocoons. It doesnt
show influence in enhancing the interlaminar adhesion between cocoon layers but
exhibited much higher hardness than the cocoon pelades.
These crystal show unique functionality such as prefential gating of CO2 from cocoon
inside to outside and temperature regulation to maintain a physiological temperature
inside the cocoon irrespective of the surrounding environment.

Despite the unique functions these crystals have in influencing gas diffusion through cocoon
walls, they didnt show clear effect on enhancing interlaminar adhesion (e.g. peel
resistance) in the outer layers of cocoons. However more importantly, these extremely hard
crystals formed the first defence layer against penetration and other physical attacks
from outside the cocoon structure.

MORE ABOUT CO2 PREFENTIAL GATING

They found that the cocoon membrane is asymmetric and acts as a gas filter allowing it to
prefentially pass CO2 from inside to outside but not the other way round. It also regulates
the temperature inside the cocoon irrespective of the outside temperature.
The researchers simulated CO2 rich external environment and notice that the CO2 did not
diffuse into the cocoon. But when CO2 was injected inside the cocoon it diffused out in 20
seconds indicating that the cocoons structure did not allow the build-up of CO2 inside.

STRUCTURE
Structure-property relationship of silk cocoons as nonwoven fibre composites is important to
learn important lessons for the practical purpose of designing newsynthetic nonwoven and
particulate composites.
It is made from a single continuous strand and has also a multi-layer structure with fewer
fibres connecting layers tan aligning in the individual layers. The inter-layer bonding is much
weaker than the intra-layer bonding, which makes it easy to separate individual cocoon
layers.
The architectural arrangement of the cocoon is far more important than the material
properties of silk fibres themselves to cope with different local environment conditions.
The cocoon outer surface (the outmost layer) and inner surface (the inner most layer) are
remarkably different in terms of the silk fibre morphology, fibre width and the porous
structure created by silk fibres. The fibre width is generally smaller for the cocoon inner
surfaces than the outer surfaces.

POROSITY IN CONNECTION WITH SERICIN

From the inner to the outer surface the porosity and amount of sericin increase while the
amount of bonding between fibres decreases. Although sericin is a bonding agent between
the fibres and thus maintains the cocoons structure, we note that in the outer layer the
sericin coating does not interconnect the fibres, so it does not form additional bonding
between fibres. In the inner layers, the sericin covers the surface of fibroins effeciently to
form a highly bonded network.

STRESS, STRAIN, & ELASTIC MODULUS OF THE COCOON

The stress rises linearly with the increase of strain until the material yields. Elastic modulus
of the cocoon is controlled by fibre density and the elastic modulus of the fibres through a

process of bending of the fibres between bonding junctions. The bonding connectivity
between the fibres reducs with increasing strain to reduce modulus.
The cocoon structure the fails at a percolation threshold when about half of the bonding
breaks, and the unbounded fibre are then pulled out, which is represented as a long tail in
the stress-strain curves.
At a small strains in tensile tests, the sericin bonds between the fibers generally crack first
because sericin has a lower breaking strength than the fibres.
In the outer layers, which have lower bonding density, the fibres de-bond and gradually
disentangle as strain increases. In the inner layers, where there is strong bonding between
the fibres, the failure of sericin propagates into the fibres, resulting in fracture of the layers
and breakage of the fibres.
Because the porosity ranges from being highest at the outer surface and decreases into the
interior, we would have expected a general modulus and strength decrease from the inside
to outside layers.
However, if modulus and strength are normalized by dividing by the thickness of each layer
to become specific modulus and strength parameters, there is a clear trend of decreasing
propertiesfrom inside to utside. Removal of inter-layer bonding reduces the modulus and
strength of the composite structure, bearing in mind that modulus and strength are
themselves already normalized per unit area.
The general decrease in specific properties from inner to outer layers would be mainly due
to the increase of the porosity. The fibre network would have less bonding with the increase
of the porosity. This would lead to a lower modulus, lower strength and higher breaking
strain as the fibres would unravel rather than breaking.
The inter-layer connectivity at different positions in the cocoon thickness share a generally
similar nonlinear load-displacement relation, with an average peel force of 0.32 N and a peel
-2
energy of 61 Jm .
The bonding connectivity reduces gradually with increasing strain.

THERMAL INSULATION OF THE COCOON

Both the cocoon walls and the volume of inner cocoon space contribute to the thermal
damping behavior of cocoons (wild cocoons show stronger thermal buffer function over or
lower thermal diffusivity than the domestic cocoon types).
Calcium oxalate crystal affects the thermal behavior of cocoons, by trapping still air inside
the cocoon structure and enhancing the thermal stability of the cocoon assembly.
The thermal buffer provided by the demineralised cocoon reduced from the original A.pernyi
o
o
cocoon, which had a maximum temperature lag of 10 C during heating and 15 C during
cooling.
Dry heat transfer through insulation fabrics may involve the conduction in the solid phase
constituting the insulation, the radiation in the material and the heat transfer in the air
confined in the insulation. Because the complexity of the fibre orientation, fibre construction,
porosity and bulk density, the thermal conductivity of textiles can hardly be predicted and nly
be measured directly.

Thermal resistance is directly proportional to the sample thickness and inversely

proportional to thermal conductivity.
Thermal insulation of textiles is caused primarily by still air captured within the fibrous
structure. Furthermore, when two textils are of equal thickness, the one with lower density
has the better insulation.
The cocoons that have excellent insulation properties relying on still air trapped in the
cocoon walls could lose the function easily under windy conditions.
However, the cocoons with crystal on the outer surfaces could lessen wind penetration and
therefore effectively maintain thermal insulation under windy conditions.
In fact, the crystals have shown a lower diffusion rate in comparison with the cocoons
without crystal in a gas diffusion test.
Thermal absorptivity is a surface structure-related property and provides an objective
measurement of the warm-cool feeling of textile. If the thermal absorptivity is high, the
textiles fabric gives a cooler feeling at first contact with the skin.
Under both steady and non-steady state thermal conditions, the inner temperature of
silkworm cocoons showed significant thermal damping characteristics against sudden
thermal changes in outside temperature. Calcium oxalate crystals affect the trapped inside
the cocoon structure and enhancing the thermal stability of the cocoon assembly.

HUMIDITY TRAP THE COCOON & WATERPROOF BARRIER

Humidity trap and a waterproof barrier, providing optimum conditions for the
successful development of the pupa.
Silk cocoons possess anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Several authors
have also examined the role of insects cocoons as either waterproof barriers that
keep the pupa dry, or as humidity buffers that prevent the pupa from dessicating.
However, at higher temperature and upon slight acidification of the reeling soltion,
water can penetrate and soften the cocoon.

PERMEABILITY BY POROSITY AND TORTUOSITY OF THE

COCOON
The porosity of a material describes the amount of empty space compared to solid
that is contained within its total volume and is defined by the ratio of the void
volume and the total volume. It is a dimensionless value between one and zero.
Tortuosity is defined by the ratio of the mean length (L) actually travelled by the
fluid through the porousmedium in the direction of flow. It is a dimensionless value
greater than or equal to one.
Intrinsic permeability of the cocoon wall was greater at the outer surface than at
the inner surface. This was achieved through a combination of increased porosity
but reduced tortuosity at the outer surface compared to the inner surface, implying
that moisture could more easily permeate from outside to insde and vice versa.

Having an intrinsic permeability that is lower for the inner surface of the cocoon
allows moisture within the cocoon to be trapped inside.
By having dissimilar intrinsic permeabilities for inner and outer surface the silk
cocoon may in effect be able to carry out two separate roles the inner layers
allowing gas and vapour exchange, while still maintaining a constant humidity
inside of the pupa, and the outer layers preserving the waterproof integrity of the
cocoon and fulfilling its role as a protective shelter that will keep the pupa suitably
dry.
At both ends however, the final diameter of the pore is too small to allow the easy
transport of either watervapour (at the inside surface) or water droplets (at the
outside surface) through the cocoon.
As a result of clever layering of the silk fibres, the silkmoth cocoon balances
porosity, turtuosity, and thus permeability to gases and moisture. In doing so, the
silkmoth caterpillar creates a structure that ideally protects it from the risks of
desiccation and extreme weather.

REFERENCES
Horrocks, Nicholas P.C. et al. The silkmoth cocoon as humidity trap and
waterproof barrier.
Zhang,J et.al. Silkworm cocoon as natural material and structure for thermal
insulation.
Zhang,J et al. Mechanical properties and structure of silkworm cocoons: A comparative
study of Bombyx mori, Antheraea assamensis, Antheraea pernyi and Antheraea mylitta
silkworm cocoons
Chen, Fujia. Silk cocoon (Bombyx mori): Multi-layer structure and mechanical properties

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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