Helsinki, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Finnish researchers have developed a new bio-based material using wood fiber and spider silk components, which is expected to be used as a substitute for plastics in the future.

The strength and ductility of the material are usually trade-off. A team led by researchers at Aalto University in Finland recently reported in the American journal Science Advances that they have bonded wood fibers with silk proteins in artificial spider silk to develop a new bio-based material with high strength, high stiffness and high flexibility.

Researchers said that in the future, this synthetic material can replace plastic, used in the production of medical supplies, as well as the textile and packaging industries. Unlike plastic, wood fiber and spider silk have the advantage that they are biodegradable and environmentally friendly.

According to reports, the research team first broke down the birch pulp into tiny fibers and built a tough fiber network, and then infiltrated the spider silk protein adhesive into the network, and finally made the new material.

But the spider silk used in the study was not extracted from spider webs, but artificial spider silk, and the silk protein molecules in the silk protein molecules are chemically similar to those in spider webs.

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