Cars from cobwebs

Remember the scene in Spiderman 2 where our hero stops a speeding train from crashing by using his spiderweb as a kind of super safety net?

You probably watched that scene with a smirk, thinking how far-fetched it was. Well, think again because it might happen someday.

In a startling revelation, a Japanese start-up company has announced that such a feat is indeed possible, and with today’s technology.

Aiming to emulate a spider’s dragline silk, the toughest fibre on the planet, Spiber Inc has produced an artificial spider-like thread called 'QMONOS' (from "kumo-no-su", meaning spider web in Japanese), which it claims has the tensile strength of steel and is more flexible than nylon.

This development gives the company’s thread the ability to perform at levels approaching the web properties of Darwin’s Bark Spider, which boasts the toughest and most durable silk on Earth.

Produced using technology based on the protein codes of naturally occurring cobwebs, QMONOS can be fabricated into various forms including fibres, films, gels, sponges, powders and Nano-fibers.

Such technologies can be used to create items such as safer automobiles, life-saving medical applications, lightweight clothing and even bullet-proof vests.

“Spider thread is incredible material -- it's so light, strong and flexible and yet it has high tolerance to heat and ultraviolet light. It can absorb so much energy," says Spiber CEO Kazuhide Sekiyama, who adds that catching and stopping a jet airliner as it takes off with a 10mm thick spiderweb is possible.

Spiber says its greatest challenge was not replicating the generation of proteins and amino acids, which are the building blocks of life on Earth, but mimicking a spider’s spinning action to figure out how their spinnerets work.

Although the company’s secret manufacturing process remains confidential, Sekiyama said: “Our idea was to put spider silk to practical use by using micro-organisms to mass-produce spider silk proteins, and using a spinning process similar to those of chemical fibres.

"Micro-organisms grow on nutrients derived from sustainable biomasses, which enables us to produce our silk without relying on petroleum resources.”

A synthetic technology devoid of oil-based products? An honourable venture indeed.

Sekiyama first revealed his technology back in 2012, but since then the company has started bringing its magical product to market and has big plans for the future.

Last month Sekiyama announced that Spiber and auto-parts maker Kojima Press Industry Co had founded 'Xpiber Inc', a joint-venture to further expand the scope of thread development.

But why go to all that trouble? Why not just harvest spider silk? Because spiders are high management critters and extracting their thread is an expensive, dangerous and painstakingly slow process.

Spiders are also very territorial creatures and inclined to kill one another, so bulk production of naturally occurring spiderweb is impossible.

Spiber’s success in creating artificial thread will revolutionise industry, purports Sekiyama.

One application that is reverberating in the automotive industry is the impact QMONOS will have on car manufacturing and safety. Spiber says its product could be used to produce lighter and more durable tyres and electronic parts, as well as high-absorption bumpers and other body panels.

Spiber claims its spiderweb is not only seven times tougher than aramid fibres, which are used for bullet-proof vests, but weighs just one-sixth that of steel and 40 per cent less than carbon-fibre. The company says its product will “go close” to reproducing those qualities.

But the diverse applications of this technology mean QMONOS can also be employed to make bio-absorbable surgical suture threads for the repair of minute blood vessels and nerves.

Since going public with its production technique in August 2012, Spiber says it has received more than 100 requests to collaborate on projects. While it would not elaborate, it confirmed that several of those requests were from car companies.

But safer cars are just one application. From new-wave clothing to protective vests to radically improving medical techniques, the possibilities seem infinite.

“A dream-like future is now within our reach, where various protein materials with custom-designed properties can be produced on a single production platform without relying on oil,” reflects Sekiyama.

Sounds like our kind of world.