Abstract
The state of water in the liquid silk from Bombyx mori was investigated as a function of moisture regain with drying. In the case of the drying by the heat treatment, the nuclei of silk I type crystal were formed at moisture regain of 65 wt% by the drying at room temperature, while by drying at 50°C, those of silk II type crystal were formed at lower moisture regain (55 wt%) than those of silk I. In these cases, the bound state of water was weakened suddenly, and then the crystal grew.
The liquid silk was also immersed into the aqueous solution of acetic acid and then dried. The relationship between the bound state of water and the formation of crystal was similar to the case of the formation of silk II type crystal.
