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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Hagfish slime : fine-tuning the mechanical properties of a new high performance fiber Levy, Nimrod
Abstract
The race to find new high performance materials is at an exciting stage. Science is in the midst of attempting to investigate any and all materials that are present in the world with the hope of finding superior, cheaper, environmentally friendly materials. Nature, it seems has been unknowingly at the race for quite some time, and is leading it in some areas. Intermediate filament-based materials promise good mechanical characteristics with the added benefit of self-assembly. Although much is known about the mechanical properties of other intermediate filament-rich materials such as wool, those materials are not purely composed of intermediate filaments and usually have added complexities in terms of synthetic manufacturing. This thesis focuses on manipulating and understanding the relationship between structure and function of essentially pure intermediate filament-based hagfish slime fibers. Previously described a-helix <-> P-sheet transition in the coiled-coil domains of hagfish fibers' intermediate filaments subunits was quantified using a novel in vitro light microscopy technique. This allowed for optimization of draw processing techniques that lead to improved tensile mechanical properties. Improvement was achieved via formation of a P-sheet crystal network in the draw processed fibers. Dimensional stability was achieved via physical and chemical processing and resulted in a new candidate environmentally friendly, high-performance fiber.
Item Metadata
Title |
Hagfish slime : fine-tuning the mechanical properties of a new high performance fiber
|
Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
|
Date Issued |
2005
|
Description |
The race to find new high performance materials is at an exciting stage. Science is
in the midst of attempting to investigate any and all materials that are present in
the world with the hope of finding superior, cheaper, environmentally friendly
materials. Nature, it seems has been unknowingly at the race for quite some time,
and is leading it in some areas.
Intermediate filament-based materials promise good mechanical characteristics
with the added benefit of self-assembly. Although much is known about the
mechanical properties of other intermediate filament-rich materials such as wool,
those materials are not purely composed of intermediate filaments and usually
have added complexities in terms of synthetic manufacturing. This thesis focuses
on manipulating and understanding the relationship between structure and
function of essentially pure intermediate filament-based hagfish slime fibers.
Previously described a-helix <-> P-sheet transition in the coiled-coil domains of
hagfish fibers' intermediate filaments subunits was quantified using a novel in
vitro light microscopy technique. This allowed for optimization of draw
processing techniques that lead to improved tensile mechanical properties.
Improvement was achieved via formation of a P-sheet crystal network in the draw
processed fibers.
Dimensional stability was achieved via physical and chemical processing and
resulted in a new candidate environmentally friendly, high-performance fiber.
|
Genre | |
Type | |
Language |
eng
|
Date Available |
2009-12-11
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
|
DOI |
10.14288/1.0092116
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
2005-11
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.