Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc (KBLB)

[DimesForShares]

The 2% was reported by Spiber and presumably is for a fairly mature production process. The .8% is for a research lab with a novel protein structure. But I honestly don’t know what GTman used in his calculations. It was an honest question.

The method of protein isolation involves pumping the goo through micro beads that have a selective affinity for the proteins, then washing the proteins free from the micro beads in a separate step. I don’t know the exact costs, but it is much cheaper and more elegant than using a centrifuge. As I said, this is similar to how oxygen concentrators work.

Reading the full paper, I was less impressed with the outcome than my reaction to the summary. The increase in toughness only appeared after the fibers experienced inelastic stretch. The fibers they were testing looked to me to be about 0.2 GPa in toughness up to the point of elastic stretch. Beyond that point, the original fibers stretched like taffy but the treated fibers retained resistance up to 0.4 GPa before breaking. This was inelastic stretch, so the fibers would not recover their shape.

If Spiber is performing similarly, that means their fibers are only about 1/10 as strong as DS and 1/5 as strong as regular silk. But we can’t assume that is the case.

I would really like to know how strong Spiber’s fibers are, as well as their actual cost. But even more, I would like information out of KBLB.