Tensile Properties and Biocompatibility of Indonesian Wild Silk Cricula Trifenestrata: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

As it is reported in many publication about successful work of many research in developing biomaterial from Bombyx mori silk which is attract many researchers to observe the possibilities in using different type of the silk other than Bombyx mori for biomaterial. Wild silks which is a silk that is not obtained from domesticated species are become object to explorer for better result for biomaterial. This research focused on Wild silk cocoon of Cricula trifenestrata obtained from Indonesian source. In this study the degumming process to separate the fiber from the cocoon was explored and the result is a separated fiber that is tested for its tensile strength and biocompatibility. It can be concluded that the silk obtained from cocoon of Cricula trifenestrata has good biocompatibility properties. The silk can be prepared by degumming method of boiling in 0.01 M NaOH for 1 hour. The modulus elasticity of the single fiber of Cricula trifenestrata is about 3681 MPa. The ultimate tensile strength is obtained about 162 MPa together with value of failure strain about 0.12. 