Mesoscale structure development reveals when a silkworm silk is spun

Abstract Silk fibre mechanical properties are attributed to the development of a multi-scale hierarchical structure during spinning. By careful ex vivo processing B. mori silkworm silk solution we arrest spinning process, freezing-in mesoscale structures corresponding three distinctive stages; gelation, fibrilization and consolidation phase identified in this work, process highlighted by emergence extinction ‘water pockets’. These transient water pockets manifestation interplay between protein dehydration, separation nanofibril assembly, with their removal due coalescence consolidation. We modeled validated how post-draw improves refines silk’s as result insights enable better understanding sequence events that occur spinning, ultimately leading us propose robust definition when is actually ‘spun’.