Deakin University, Institute for Frontier Materials, Geelong, Victoria, Australia 3216.
Deakin University, Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute (A2I2), Geelong, Victoria, Australia 3216.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2020 May 11;6(5):3197-3207. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.0c00156. Epub 2020 Apr 21.
Wet spinning of silkworm silk has the potential to overcome the limitations of the natural spinning process, producing fibers with exceptional mechanical properties. However, the complexity of the extraction and spinning processes have meant that this potential has so far not been realized. The choice of silk processing parameters, including fiber degumming, dissolving, and concentration, are critical in producing a sufficiently viscous dope, while avoiding silk's natural tendency to gel via self-assembly. This study utilized recently developed rapid Bayesian optimization to explore the impact of these variables on dope viscosity. By following the dope preparation conditions recommended by the algorithm, a 13% (w/v) silk dope was produced with a viscosity of 0.46 Pa·s, approximately five times higher than the dope obtained using traditional experimental design. The tensile strength, modulus, and toughness of fibers spun from this dope also improved by a factor of 2.20×, 2.16×, and 2.75×, respectively. These results represent the outcome of just five sets of experimental trials focusing on just dope preparation. Given the number of parameters in the spinning and post spinning processes, the use of Bayesian optimization represents an exciting opportunity to explore the multivariate wet spinning process to unlock the potential to produce wet spun fibers with truly exceptional mechanical properties.
家蚕丝的湿法纺丝具有克服天然纺丝过程局限性的潜力，可生产出具有优异机械性能的纤维。然而，由于提取和纺丝过程的复杂性，这一潜力迄今尚未实现。选择丝素加工参数，包括纤维脱胶、溶解和浓度，对于生产出足够粘性的纺丝原液非常重要，同时还要避免丝素通过自组装自然凝胶的趋势。本研究利用最近开发的快速贝叶斯优化方法来探索这些变量对纺丝原液粘度的影响。通过遵循算法推荐的纺丝原液制备条件，制备出了浓度为 13%（w/v）、粘度为 0.46 Pa·s 的丝素纺丝原液，比使用传统实验设计获得的纺丝原液高约五倍。由该纺丝原液纺制的纤维的拉伸强度、模量和韧性分别提高了 2.20 倍、2.16 倍和 2.75 倍。这些结果仅来自于五组实验，重点关注的仅是纺丝原液的制备。考虑到纺丝和后纺丝过程中的参数数量，贝叶斯优化的使用代表了探索多元湿法纺丝过程的一个令人兴奋的机会，可以挖掘出生产具有真正优异机械性能的湿法纺丝纤维的潜力。
