• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.52-59
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• 1993

Raw silk degumming, by which the sericin and other marterials are eliminated from fibroin, is very essential process to produce silk fabrics. Alkali chemicals and enzymes have been used for the silk-degumming process. In this paper, the effect of heat treatment was investigated on silk fibers degummed by two different methods, soap and enzymatic degumming method. The difference between these two degumming methods was analyzed on the basis of results of mechanical testing, thermal analysis and intrated spectroscopy. The tenacity and the elongation of silk fiber are decreased by the heat-treatment in wet state. This tendency is observed in both cases of two degumming methods. The peak temperature in DSC analysis, which is attributed to thermal decomposition of silk fiber, was shifted to higher value with the heat-treatment temperature for the soap degummed silk fiber, however, it was not for the enzymatic degummed one. The IR crystallinity of soap digummed silk fiber is increased with the heat-treatment temperature, while that of enzymatic degummed fiber is not.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.18 no.2 s.87
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• pp.31-38
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• 2006

Silk fabrics are very popular and widely used because of their elegant appearance. However, silk fabrics generally have easy wrinkle, and do not stretch and deform permanently after machine washing. Then the stretched properties of silk fabrics are important for the application of industrial textile materials such as formal and sports wear. Thus, this research surveys the covering, weaving and degumming conditions for stretched silk fabrics. As a result, yarn breaking stress was reduced with increasing spindle speed, and the yarn twists were optimized under the covering condition of polyurethane/silk with PVA pretreatment. In addition, the shrinkage of the silk fabrics treated with star degumming process was reduced by continuous NaOH degumming process. The fabrics showed the fabric physical properties with optimum stretched properties and evenness surfaces.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.132-137
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• 2016

Although silk textile shows excellent performance when used in clothing over a long period, its limited elongation and elasticity have restricted its extension to other textile and non-textile applications. In the present study, silk textile was produced using silk/polyurethane core-spun yarn and degummed to enhance its elongation and elasticity. The effects of degumming on the structure and mechanical properties of the silk textile were examined. Scanning electron microscopy observation revealed that the silk filaments became finer and more flexible with degumming, resulting in increased tangling of weft yarns and a highly shrunk textile structure in the weft direction. Although the strength of the degummed silk textile was decreased, its elongation greatly increased by 383% (a 16-fold increase) because of the degumming treatment. In particular, the elasticity of the silk textile was greatly improved. The silk textile exhibited ~30% reduction in the elongation after the second extension; however, the elongation almost did not change after 18 additional extension-recovery tests.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.60-68
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• 1993

It has been known that the silk degumming treated by hot alkali solution is easy to handle but is liable to yield poor-quality silk due to the degree of degumming loss, incomplete-degumming or over-degumming. Therefore, many studies have been carried out on the silk degumming by enzyme in order to improve the quality of silk. However, no attention has been paid to the physicochemical analysis of enzymatic degummed silk. In this paper, two different degumming methods, soap and enzymatic, are compared in aqueous solution state of silk fibroin. The results can be summarized as follows: There was no significant difference between two solutions on the bases of polarizing microscopy, TEM observation and SDS-PAGE. Spherulite of silk fibroin was not observed in polarizing microscopy, however the leaf-shape fibril structure was developed upon solidification. The size of spherulites of silk fibroin in TEM observation were 30~120nm with a wide range of size distribution. The intrinsic viscosity of enzymatic degummed fibroin solution was lower than that of soap degummed solution. This can be explained that the silk fibroin was more degraded by enzymatic degumming method compared with the soap degumming method. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the fibroin molecule was composed of large component of molecule weight above 50 kd and small component of molecule weight about 20 kd. There was no difference in crystallinity between two degumming methods on the bases of results of DSC thermograms and IR spectra.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.249-258
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• 2002

Natural silk is formed by two proteins : the crystalline fibroin (inside the silk thread) and amorphous sericin (as a tube outside the thread). The degumming process is used to eliminate the external sericin prior to dyeing ; generally it makes use of soaps at about pH 10. Sericin is the protein constituent that "gums"together the fibroin filaments of cocoon silk. It constitutes about 25% of the weight of the cocoon, is soluble in hot water and "gels" on cooling. The removal of sericin from raw silk, known as degumming, is a simple but important process usually employing hot dilute soap or alkaline solution and occasionally dilute acids or enzymic methods. During degumming, alkali is taken up by the sericin and the free acid from the soap is formed ; this may be deposited on the fiber, reducing the rate of degumming and protecting it from hydrolysis. Alkali is often added to maintain or restore the pH of the baths, but it is rarely used alone, since it leaves the silk rather harsh in handle. If complete sericin removal is required as for printing, sodium carbonate may be added. If the pH of the bath exceeds 11, the fibroin is attacked. Recently, According to the development of electrolysis, we can be obtained the electrolytic reduction water(above pH 11.5) and electrolytic oxidation water (below pH 3). The aim of this work was to study a degumming process using electrolytic water and a possibility of sericin recovery. The new degumming process used electrolytic water operates at $95^\circ{C}$ for 2hr. without any reagents. The wastewater of this process are formed by a solution of sericin in water. This conditions suggest the study of a possible recovery of this protein (sericin) which has an amino acid composition suitable for many used in cosmetics, textile finishing agents, animal feeding, etc. The degumming process using electrolytic water is available to reduce treatment costs and pollute and at the same time to recover sericin.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.114-119
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• 1993

The weight loss for the mixture(raw-silk/PET) was tested to investigate the effects of weight loss accelerator on the degumming and weight loss. The degumming loss of raw-silk was decreased while the weight loss polyester(PET) was increased depending on the increase of accelerator concentration. The difference of the weight loss was not significant in raw-silk but the weight loss of PET was increased with the increase of the alkali concentration. The proper degumming of raw-silk was obtained and simultaneously the weight loss of PET was high for the raw-silk/PET "A" and "B" type. The proper degumming of raw-silk was obtained but the weight loss of PET was low for the raw-silk/PET "D" and "E" type. It showed that the typical degumming curve in raw-silk part and the weight loss of PET was increased depending on the treatment time in the weight loss for the fabric composed of raw-silk and PET.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.36-40
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• 2005

This studies were carried out to develop the new silk degumming method by elelectrolyzed alkaline water on the silk degumming process. Using to this method, it could be collect pure sericin from the degumming water, because the degumming water by elelectrolyzed alkaline water was not contaminated by chemicals including soap. The range of elelectrolyzed alkaline water was pH 11.5 to 11.7 and maintained the first value for 8 days under the cool and closed conditions. The degumming ratio of silk was higher in elelectrolyzed alkaline water(pH 11.5~11.7)than that of soap and alkaline bath. When the pH value of elelectrolyzed alkaline water was adjusted at pH 11.0, the degumming ratio of silk was similar to that of soap and alkaline degumming. After degumming the pH value of degumming water decreased largely in the elelectrolyzed alkaline water compared to that of soap and alkaline bath. The tenacity and elongation of degummed silk by elelectrolyzed alkaline water was almost same those of soap and alkaline degumming for 90 min.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.27-39
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• 1976

In this study several kinds of spun silk yarn-synthetic filament compounded yarn was manufactured, and several fabrics woven from above mentioned silk compound yarn for evaluation of serviceability as clothing materials. The following results were obtained: 1. Degumming agents are in the order of sodium silicate, sodium hydroxide, sodium carbornate, soap and water. 2. When the concentration of sodium hydroxide is exceeded 3%, degradation of floss silk property is resulted because of excessive dissolving out of silk protein. 3. Degumming effect is much improved by concentration of degumming agent and less by its treating time. 4. Simultaneous application of more the 2 kinds of degumming agent is desirable for improvement of floss silk. 5. Application of natural organic acid brings very good results in keeping original scooping and color of the silk. 6. Load and elongation it increased by compound with synthetic filament yarn. 7. Even the evenness of compound yarn is largely dependent on the quality of floss silk and extent of degumming, the C.V.% of silk compound yarn in the experiment was 8-12%. 8. Single bath dyeing technique was impossible for their cloth, and dyeing was performed in 2 bath system separately for silk and synthetic fiber. 9. Shrinkage ratio due to the dyeing of fabric was 23% in case of polyester and spun silk fabric. 10. The final woven cloth can be applicable to (a) Blouse in care of thin cloth (compound silk fabric) (b) Korean costume for women in case of thick cloth. (compound hand spun silk fabric)

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.66-71
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• 1986

The studies were carried out to screen the optimum conditions for enzymatic degumming of raw silk yarn and silk fabric by use of Alkalase, a protease produced by Bacteria, comparing with Papain and Trypsin representing natural proteolytic enzymes. 1. The optimum temperature and acidity of degumming solution were 70$^{\circ}C$, pH 5-6 for Papain degumming, 40$^{\circ}C$, pH 8 for Trypsin and 50-60$^{\circ}C$ pH 8-9 for Alkalase. 2. By increasing the Alkalase concentration in the range of 0.6 to 1.0 gram per liter, the time for enzymatic degumming of silk yarn could be reduced by 40 minutes. 3. In degumming of silk yarn by Alkalase, the pretreatment of 95$^{\circ}C$, 10 minutes at 0.1% sodium bicarbonate solution or posttreatent of 80$^{\circ}C$, 20 minutes at 2% (o.w.f.) sodium silicate solution improved the efficiency of enzymatic degumming, as compared to that of nontreatment. 4. The breaking strength, elongation and Lousiness results of enzymatically degummed silk yarn were apt to be improved more than those of soap-degummed one. 5. When the pretreatment of alkaline solution was done with over 20% of degumming ratio, the enzymatic degumming efficiency of both Havutae and Crepe de chine could be reached to the same level with those of soap-soda degummed. 6. As the pretreated silk fabric with 20% of degumming ratio was under action of three proteases, respectively, the deumming efficiency of Havutae and Crepe de chine were completed by Alkalase more than by Papain or Trpysin. 7. The stiffness of enzymatically degummed Crepe de chine was not only reduced by 17% more than that of soap-soda degummed one but also the Drape coefficient was decreased in enzymatically degummed fabrics, which was closely related with the soft touch of degummed fabrics.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.41-51
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• 1992

In this thesis, both soap and enzymatic degumming method were adopted and the optimum degumming conditions were obtained. Difference between the two degumming methods in silk fiber state was investigated and analyzed on the basis of the results of physical testings, polarizing microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, viscosity measurement, (${\alpha}$＋$\varepsilon$) amino group contents measurement, birefringence measurement, amino acid analysis, thermal analysis, infrared spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction analysis. The results obtained were summarized as follows; Physical test results of the degummed silk fiber showed that the tenacity and the elongation of enzymatic degummed silk fiber were lower than those of soap degummed fiber. But SEM observation and amino acid analysis showed almost the same tendency in the two degumming methods. The viscosity of enzymatic degummed silk fiber was lower than that of soap degummed fiber, but (${\alpha}$＋$\varepsilon$) amino group contents was higher in the enzymatic degummed fiber. It can be suggested that the enzymatic degummed silk fibroin was more degraded than the soap degummed fibroin. The birefringence, endothermic temperature of DSC spectrum, IR crystallinity and X-ray lateral order factor of enzymatic degummed silk fiber were higher than those of soap degummed fiber. It seems that the enzymatic degummed silk fiber has the higher crystallinity than that of soap degummed one according to the above results. However, it can be inferred that these differences between soap and enzymatic degummed fiber would be lessened if pretreatment and aftertreatment were included in the enzymatic degumming process.