Japanese scientists have devised a novel way to process silk yarn into a fine powder. Raw silk is first boiled in an alkali solution of sodium carbonate to decrease its strength. The crushing is done in two stages. Preliminary crushing produces a coarse powder with particles about 20 I-t m in diameter (one m m= onemillionth of a metre). A precision crusher then cuts the particles' size to five m m. The scientists of the National Institute of Sericultural and Entomological Research of the Japanese ministry of agriculture claim that now various materials can be coated with silk.
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