Raw Silk

raw silk

[′rȯ ′silk]

(textiles)

A stage in the production of silk from the cocoons of cultivated silkworms when the silk filament consists of 80% fibroin and 20% sericin.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Raw Silk

 

an industrial thread of natural silk, obtained in cocoon reeling by combining lengthwise several, usually five to ten, cocoon filaments; the filaments are firmly cemented together with sericin. Raw silk must be uniform with respect to thickness, smoothness (the absence of thickenings or breaks on short segments of the fiber), and cohesion of the filaments. Its mechanical properties are higher than the properties of the cocoon filaments: the breaking strength is 15 percent higher and the extensibility is 10–15 percent higher. More than one-half of all the raw silk produced is processed into thrown silk. Raw silk, which is usually produced in crosswound skeins, is used to manufacture dress fabrics, sewing threads, and other articles.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.