What makes silk? Production technology

Production of this amazing fabric originated in Ancient China, and for a long time the secret of its manufacture the world did not know. Over the person who dared to reveal this secret, hung the threat of the death penalty. So the price of the fabric was appropriate to allow the purchase could afford a few people. In the Roman Empire, silk was worth its weight in gold! When the Chinese learned to use threads of a silkworm for the production of a thin blade? The exact dates you will not find in any historian. There is a legend that the Empress tea once dropped the cocoon of a caterpillar and turned into a thread of great beauty. Then the wife of the Yellow Emperor and began the breeding of caterpillars-the silkworms.

Only in 550 ad the Byzantine Emperor Justinian was able to reveal the secret - what is a silk. In China on a secret mission was sent two monks. Returning two years later, they brought silkworm eggs. This monopoly came to an end.

About caterpillar-cocoon

Fabric natural silk today, as in ancient times, it is possible to make only with the help of the best tracks. Butterflies in the family of silk-worms a great many, but the most expensive thread can only give caterpillar called Bombyx mori. This type does not exist in the wild, as created and nurtured artificially. They bred with the sole purpose of laying eggs for the cultivation of caterpillars that produce silk.

They are very bad at flying and can barely see, but with the main task of coping fine. Live caterpillars a few days, but have time to find a partner and to postpone to 500 eggs. About ten days the eggs appear tracks. For the production of a kilogram of silk requires about 6 thousand caterpillars.

How caterpillars produce silk thread?

What makes silk, we've already established, but how does it happen? How caterpillar produces such a precious thread? The fact that newly born creatures all day eat the leaves of the mulberry tree, on which live. Two weeks of life, they grow 70 times and a few times shed. New mass, silkworms are ready to produce yarn. The body becomes translucent, and the caterpillars crawling in search of a place to develop threads. At this point it is to be placed in special boxes with cells. There mulberry silkworms begin the important process - build their cocoons.

The leaves become Digested in the gut, accumulating in the glands of the caterpillar. Over time, the protein turns into a substance called sericin. In the mouth of the creature is spinning on, the output from it two strands of fibroin are glued together with sericin. It turns out one of the strong silk thread, which hardens in the air.

A caterpillar is able to twist for two days the thread length over thousands of kilometers. For the production of a silk handkerchief is required over a hundred cocoons, and for traditional kimonos - 9 thousand!

The Technology of silk production

When the cocoon is ready, it is necessary to unwind (call it econometrie). For starters, the cocoons are collected and subjected to a heat treatment. After this poor thread is discarded. Other threads are steamed in hot water to moisturize and soften. Then a special brush find the end and the machine connects two or more threads (depending on desired thickness). Material-the raw rewind, so it dries out.

Why is the fabric turns out so smooth? The fact that by a special process it remove all Sirotin. In the soap solution the silk is boiled for several hours. Cheaper fabric that have not been processed, rough and difficult coloring. That is why the chiffon is not as smooth.

Silk Painting

A Long way weaving in progress, though nearing completion. After boiling the silk is still one important step - painting. Smooth yarns dye easily. The structure of the fibroin allows the paint to penetrate deeply into the fibers. Why silk scarves are so long retain its color. The leaf contains positive and negative ions that allows the use of any paint and get a good result. Dye silk in skeins, and the finished fabric.

For more shiny fabric and rich color silk "animate", that is processed in vinegar. In the end the way the fabric again rinsed with hot steam under pressure. This allows you to remove the internal stress fibers. The process is called deleteregkey.

Now you know what the make silk and what is a long way. Basically it is made in China and India, but legislators "silk fashion" are France and Italy. Currently, there are many synthetic fabrics reminiscent of silk but at a much lower price (viscose, nylon). However, with natural silk to competeneither one fabric!