Figure 4.

Nanoconfinement in spider silks and their effects on mechanical properties. A, schematic illustrates the relationships between β-sheet nanocrystal dimensions and their corresponding mechanical properties. S=schematic plot of the strength of a β-strand as a function of strand length h, F=strength of nanocrystal as a function of crystal size L, T=toughness of nanocrystal as a function of crystal size L. B, schematic illustrates the mechanism of how hierarchical structure formation in the strand length h and crystal size L of the β-sheet nanocrystals lead to the formation of their high mechanical performance. ^[14] Copyright 2010, Springer-Nature.