Degumming of Antheraea yamamai silkworm cocoon

Abstract

Oak silkworm, Antheraea yamamai (A. yamamai), has been used for clothing and surgical suture and considered as biomaterial due to RGD tripeptide. This paper reported the degumming conditions of A. yamamai using sodium oleate, high pressure and temperature, and sodium carbonate. Degumming ratio of A. yamamai cocoon using sodium oleate was less than 10%. High pressure and temperature treatment induced 30% weight loss of A. yamamai cocoon. The concentration, treatment temperature and time using sodium carbonate was examined and revealed the following conditions for degumming; 5% owf, 60 min at 100℃. The degummed solution was confirmed using UV and FT-IR spectrometer. Our results can be used to handle A. yamamai silkworm cocoon for further application including material processing.