Adam Varley, Vartest’s Technical Director & COO was honored to be the recipient of the TCR Service Reward “In Recognition for His Service to AATCC Research Committees”. On Thursday, April 3rd 2014, Adam attended a luncheon at the Crowne Plaza Resort in Asheville, North Carolina, and was presented with this award for “his contribution toward the development of the AATCC Fiber ID Technical Supplement and the continuous updating of AATCC Test Methods 20 and 20A.”

Filament silk or bombyx mori silk is extruded from two seperate glands in the region of the spinerette on the silkworm’s head as it spins its cocoon. These two filaments are composed of beta pleated sheets of fibroin protein which are joined together by a sericin outer sheath which is simultaneously extruded from two other glands in the region of the silkworm’s spinerette.

The sericin outer sheath and fibroin inner region can be seen in the following low and high magnification scanning electron micrographs:

Scanning Electron Micrograph Of Woven Silk Fabric

Scanning Electron Micrograph of Sericin Coated Bave Containing Two Fibroin Brins

To further differentiate the sericin/fibroin interface Vartest has developed a stain which colors the sericin outer sheath purple and the fibroin filaments pink as seen in the following light micrograph:

The sericin surrounding the bave has been stained purple, the two fibroin brins pink.

The two fibroin filaments in combination with the sericin outer sheath is known as a bave, while the individual fibroin filaments are known as brins.

Vartest combines multiple testing and analytical techniques to fully characterize fibers both as manufatured and in end use.