Mechanical Property of Silk/Bamboo Composite Paper for Effective Utilization of Waste Silk

Abstract

Waste silk fiber is an important by-product in silk industry. In order to perform the efficient recycling of this waste silk resource, the papermaking technology was adopted, and silk/bamboo paper was produced. Beating treatment of fibers and chemical modification of silk fibroin fiber by epoxy reagent were carried out. The study of mechanical property, morphology and FT-IR spectrum showed that beating treatment could realize fibrillation of fibroin fibers effectively, however the strength of composite papers was rather weak. Proper beating treatment and modification still need to improve the mechanical property of the silk/bamboo hybrid paper.