Silk : Processing, Properties and Applications

Silk: Processing, Properties and Applications, Second Edition, examines all aspects of silk technology, including its manufacture, processing, properties, structure-property relationships, dyeing, printing and finishing, and applications. This new edition is updated and expanded to include the very latest developments in silk production. Detailed chapters discuss silk reeling and silk fabric manufacture, the structural aspects of silk, its mechanical and thermal properties, and silk dyeing. Further chapters focus on the latest developments in terms of processing and applications, covering emerging topics, such as spider silks, non-mulberry silks, the printing and finishing of silk fabrics, and by-products of the silk industry.

This book will be a highly valuable source of information for textile technologists, engineers and manufacturers, fiber scientists, researchers and academics in natural fibers or textile technology.

• Offers in-depth coverage of silk production, properties and structure-property relationships
• Provides an authoritative reference on sericulture, silk fabric processing and applications of silk
• Expanded to include non-mulberry silks, printing and finishing of silk fabrics, and by-products of sericulture

Dr Babu is Professor and Head of the Department of Textile Technology, and Dean (Public & International Affairs), at the Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology (BIET), Davangere, Karnataka, India. Dr. Babu has been involved in several international assignments. In 2006, he was invited to the University of Oxford in the UK, to join a 1-year research project on silk based biomaterials. From 2007 to 2008, Dr. Babu was involved in advanced research on shape memory textiles and garments, at the Institute of Textiles and Clothing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. In 2014, Dr. Babu was awarded with the prestigious Commonwealth Fellowship by the Association of Commonwealth Universities, based in the UK. Under this fellowship, he was invited to become a Visiting Professor at the University of Maroua, Cameroon, Central Africa, in order to establish and develop the Department of Textiles. His main research areas include silk-based biomaterials, natural fibre based eco-biocomposites, eco-friendly processing, organic cotton processing and eco-management concepts, natural anti-microbial agent based finishing of cotton and other fibres, and bamboo-blended fabric production and characterization.