Silk Sericin and its applications in textiles

1. A seminar
on
Sericin and its applications in textiles
at
All India Seminar
"THE INDIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRYMODERNIZATION, MAKE IN INDIA ETHNIC HANDLOOMS, FASHION SKILL
DEVELOPMENT AND FUTURISTIC TEXTILES"
By
Md. Vaseem Chavhan
Assistant Professor,
Department of Textile & Fashion Technology,
University, Guntur, A.P.

2. Introduction
• India is the second largest producer silk in the world.
• Silk consists of two types of proteins, silk fibroin and Sericin.
• Each year estimated 50,000 tons of unutilized sericin was discarded
in degumming wastewater worldwide.
• It would be beneficial for economy and environment if this sericin
can be fully utilized as a green material

3. Silk Composition
• Silk consists of two main proteins, sericin and fibroin, fibroin being
the structural center of the silk, and serecin being the sticky
material surrounding it.
Fig -Raw Silk Microscope ViewFig- Silk Composition

4. Silk Composition
Different amino acids present in fibroin (mulberry silk)
Different amino acids present in sericin

5. SERICIN EXTRACTION
Silk sericin is recovered by three different processes from
different sources
high temperature high pressure (HTHP)
IR heated machine
alkaline and soap plus alkali (SPA)
 using membrane filtration technology.
enzymes like Alkylase
Woven fabric yield the best quality as well as quantity of
sericin while silk waste yield the poorest.

6. SERICIN PROPERTIES
• Moisturizer
• UV protection (220nm absorbed
by amino acids)
• Anti- oxidant
• Anti- bacterial activity
• Easy bio degradable & Non
Toxicity.

7. Applications

8. Fabric Treatment
• Sericin has been found to improve moisture regain and water
retention, and reduce electrical resistivity of cotton fibers by
using crosslinking agents .
• Sericin modified polyster is five times more hygroscopic than
untreated polyester .
• wool-treated fabrics(without using cross linking agent); a
percentage of sericin 5% (w/w) improved the touch of wool
fabrics, as well as the absorption of water .

9. Medical Textiles
• Scaffolding- As the sericin based hydrogel has the three
dimensional cross linking property.
• The modified cotton fibers treated with sericin useful for the
development of gauze and pad dressing .
• Silk sericin has good wound healing properties. Its component
also improves the attachment of cultured human skin
fibroblast and corneal wound healing.

10. Diapers
• Sericin has the property of gel formation. A blended hydrogel
made of sericin and fibroin and PVA is said to have excellent
moisture absorbing and desorbing properties and elasticity.
• Serine is major component of sericin protein which play major
role in wound healing process.

11. Filter media
• The filtration property of fibrous filter can be enhanced by
coating with Sericin.
• Filter media can be treated with an antioxidant coating for
example the cigarette filter having Thione Antioxidant Complex
to reduce amount of free radical damage .
• Silk sericin could be coated onto nylon and polyster fibers and
has a strong potential to be used for indoor air filters to reduce
the amount of toxic free radicals, fungi and micrococcus type of
bacteria.
• The PMA-SS (poly methyl acrylate-silk sericin) nanospheres are
considered to have potential applications in wastewater
treatment for the removal of heavy metal ions such as trivalent
chromium species

12. Thank You!!