Silk A Natural Fiber

Silk An Introduction
The ancient Chinese were credited with the discovery of silk and the
cultivation of silk worm.
They were able to guard the secret of sericulture and it took about
3,000 years for the outside world to know anything about it. The
origin of silk is shrouded in myths and legends. According to one
legend, a little Chinese princess accidentally dropped a cocoon into
a cup of tea. Later her mother was started to find that a fine strand
could be unwound from softened cocoon.
In the third century A.D., some Chinese maidens, who were
sericulture experts, were mysteriously kidnapped and carried
through Korea and Japan, where they instructed the people of the
court and later Japanese craftsmen who soon produced silk quickly
and scientifically.
Silk is continuous protein filament extruded by silk worm. It
possesses all the desirable properties of a textile fiber. It is solidified
protein produced by certain caterpillars which will encase
themselves in the form of cocoon.

Classification of Silk

MULBERRY SILK As the name indicates, are produced by worms

which feed on mulberry leaves. Most gorgeous and fabulous silk
materials are produced out of this variety. Sarees from
Kancheepuram, Kashmir, Baranasi and Mysore belong to this variety.
TASSAR SILK A tribal variety silkworm is raised in forest trees of
Sai, Arjun and Asan. Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa are the
principal Tassar-producing States, accounting over 90 percent of the
total production. Clothings made out this variety have a Dry Look.
They have the subdued brilliance of morning sun.
ERI SILK It is produced from philosammia ricini worms found
extensively in Eastern India, part of China and South East Asia. The
Eri culture extends up to an altitude of 1500 meters in the hills and is
practiced in temperatures varying from 12Cin winter to 37C in
summer with a humidity of 80 to 100%. Eri worms are reared indoors.
MUGA SILK It is produced only in the north-eastern region of India.
This golden Yellow silk is produced by a Muga worm. This variety is
cultured mostly in the Brahmaputra Valley.The worm feeds on Som
and Soalu leaves and produces a golden yellow silk.

Silk producers in the world

Major silk producing countries in the world today
are: Japan, China, Soviet Union, India, Italy,
South Korea, Turkey, Iran, Brazil, Spain, France,
Sicily, Syria and Austria.

Sericulture Life Cycle of Silk Worm

Sericulture Life Cycle of Silk Worm

STAGE - 1
EGG
Eggs that have been selected are
kept in cold storage for
approximately six weeks after they
are laid. Then, they are placed in
incubators where they remain until
all are hatched after 12 to 15 days.
One ounce of egg yields as many
as 36,000 silk worms. When the
worms appear perforated paper is
placed over them and a supply of
chopped mulberry leaves is spread
on the paper. The worms climb
through the holes, dirt and eggresidues are left behind.

Sericulture Life Cycle of Silk Worm

STAGE - 2
CATTERPILLAR
It is a larva about 1/4" in length. The larva requires careful maturing in a controlled
atmosphere for approximately 20 to 30 days. During this period they are fed on finely
cut mulberry leaves 5 times a day. During this period the silk worms do nothing but
eat, except four periods of sleep lasting a day at a time during which they shed their
skins and grow new ones (molting). After its fourth molt, the silk worm settles down to
a final feed lasting about 10 days, during which it eats 20 times its own weight of
leaves. It is over 3 inches long and weighs about 5 gms.
The worm is now fully grown and it stops eating and begins to spin filaments. The
liquid silk (known as FIBROIN) is present in two glands in the silk worm. From these
glands it flows into two channels to a common exit tube called, the spinneret in the
silk worm head. As it emerges the liquid silk hardens into very fine filaments and
these are coated and cemented together by a gummy substance called Sericin which
comes from two other glands nearby. As the silk emerges, the silk worm moves its
head backwards and forwards in a figure. Gradually it surrounds itself with a strongly
built cocoon made from a continuous silk strand. Spinning usually takes 2 to 3 days.

Sericulture Life Cycle of Silk Worm

STAGE - 3
CHRYSALIS OR PUPA
After finishing spinning, the enclosed silk
worm undergoes a remarkable
transformation, passing from the form of a
caterpillar into an inert chrysalis or pupa. If
left undisturbed, the pupa inside the
cocoon develops into a moth, within two
weeks. The moth escapes from the
cocoon by secreting a fluid that dissolves
away a section of the cocoon to make a
hole through which the moth crawls out.
The continuous silk filament is thus broken
up into thousands of short pieces which
are useless for reeling. So within a few
days of making its cocoon the pupa must
be killed by steaming. Some good
cocoons are kept for breeding.

Sericulture Life Cycle of Silk Worm

STAGE - 4
MOTH
The moth emerge from the cocoons are small grayish white insects and lives only a
few hours. They cannot fly; they have no mouth and cannot eat. The sole job of the
silk worm is to mate and lay its batch of 300-400 eggs. After laying eggs, the moth
dies.

Method Of Extraction Of Silk From Cocoon And

Process Of Preparing Filature Silk
SILK REELING

Silk is quite different from other natural fibers which are

produced in relatively short length. Silk worm makes its
cocoon from a twin filament that extruded from its spinneret
in a continuous strand. This filament may be as a mile in
length. The production of a thread or yarn of silk suitable
for weaving is therefore a process different from that which
is used in the case of shorter fibers. All that is necessary in
principle is to unwind the long continuous filaments from the
cocoons and then twist a number of these together to form a
thread of useful thickness.
The unwinding of the fine silk filaments from the cocoons is
called reeling. Since a single filament is very thin a finite
number of cocoons are reeled together and combined in the
form of thread without twist. Reeling consists of the following
operations.

Method Of Extraction Of Silk From Cocoon And

Process Of Preparing Filature Silk
STIFLING

Here, the moths inside the cocoons are killed by steam or

hot water.
GRADING OR SORTING
To obtain uniform and good quality yarn, silk grading is
done. Cocoons of different sizes are grouped together;
damaged and ill-developed cocoons are rejected and used
in the waste industry.
COOKING
The sorted cocoons are placed in 1% hot soap solution at
90C in a vat to soften the sericin gum and to enable the
filaments to be drawn out easily as one continuous thread.
Good cooking is essential for the success of subsequent
operation and it is done for a few minutes.

Method Of Extraction Of Silk From Cocoon And

Process Of Preparing Filature Silk
STIFLING

BRUSHING
After cooking, the unreelable discontinuous and rough mass of fibers
called floss, is removed with a brush until the free end from which the
continuous length is found Floss is used in the waste industry.
Cocoons, after brushing are transferred to a basin containing water kept
at 60C. Reeling requires great skill, as the operator must produce
uniform thread by combining the silk filaments in suitable fashion. Each
filament is narrower towards the beginning and the end than it is in the
middle. The denier may also vary from cocoon to cocoon. The reeler
must so manipulate that the cocoons are so adjusted as to produce a
uniform yarn.
To produce a silk thread of 28 to 30 denier, 15 to 18 filaments are
combined. The required number of filament are brought together to form
a thread by drawing them over a glass roller and then through a
porcelain guide, drilled with vertical hole gauge to denier required.

Method Of Extraction Of Silk From Cocoon And

Process Of Preparing Filature Silk
STIFLING

CROISSURE
If the silk filaments are simply drawn together the results would be
ribbon or a tape. So to obtain a cylindrical thread it is necessary to have
a device called croissure, which causes crossing of the threads several
times with itself to dissipate water and to assist cohesion of silk
filaments.
If the temperature of the reeling bath is hot, the silk comes off very
quickly. If it is too cold, it comes off with difficulty and cause breakage,
so the temperature must be kept in moderate condition.
The silk filaments after passing through the croissure device passes
through guide eye set on sliding rod having to and fro motion across the
direction of the thread. Then the filaments are wound on the rotating six
armed winding reeler in the form of skeins. These are made up into
bundles of about 6 lbs called books. The books are then packed into
bales for shipment.

Method Of Extraction Of Silk From Cocoon And

Process Of Preparing Filature Silk
STIFLING

DEGUMMED SILK
The natural gum sericin is normally left on
the silk during reeling, throwing and weaving.
It acts as a size which protects the fibers
from mechanical injury. The gum is removed
from the finished yarns or fabrics, usually by
boiling with soap and water.
Silk fabrics, woven with the sericin still on the
yarn, have a characteristic stiffness of
handle; they are also dull in appearance.
After degumming, the silk acquires its

Method Of Extraction Of Silk From Cocoon And

Process Of Preparing Filature Silk
THROWING OF SILK

This is the operation of twisting of long filaments of silk into

a yarn. Reeled silk is transformed into silk yarn by this
process called silk throwing. Twist gives cohesion to the
thin filaments which are combined together. In throwing the
number of TPI (Twist per Inch) inserted and the direction of
twist (S or Z) are important.
The raw silk skeins are soaked in worm water with soap.
The softening of the sericin gum aids the easy handling of
the filament. After mechanical drying, the skeins are placed
on light reels from which the silk is wound on bobbins. The
thread is then inspected and packaged and is ready for
shipment to manufacturers for construction of fabrics.

Uses of Silk
Silk prevents body heat from radiating outwards
and hence it is used to make winter apparel. Silk
yarn is used to produce sheer fabrics such as
georgette, taffeta, organdy and grenadine. Spun
silk is used for shantung and pile fabrics, for
dress trimmings, linings, and elastic webbing
and for velvets for umbrella fabrics and for
insulative material. Wild silk fabrics are durable
and have a coarse irregular surface.

The End