A critical review on application of silk sericin and its mechanical properties in various industries

Silk has turned into valuable biological material for a wide range of research applications. Sericin in silk can be utilized as a final material for natural or handmade fibers in the textile, cosmetics, and hygiene industries because of its various biological characteristics such as antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-tumor action, UV resistance, and absorbency. Sericin is disposed of annually as sewage in silk industries, according to findings on silk sericin and its application in industry. If sericin is recycled and recovered, it will have significant economic advantages in addition to reducing pollution. Since researches on the utilization of waste produced in the silk industry and the development of mechanical properties for use in many industries have not been performed simultaneously, a gap in this field has remained. The main aim of this review was to investigate sericin recycling in the silk industry while also improving mechanical properties for various applications in the industry. Sericin has a variety of biochemical and biological characteristics, according to past works. However, its mechanical characteristics are poor. There are a few ways to improve mechanical characteristics, the best of which is to increase sericin molecular weight. Better performance could be achieved by enhancing mechanical characteristics for application in various industries such as medical and cosmetics. New methods for obtaining high-value-added products have also been developed to provide environmental, social, and economic advantages. Hence, this review aims to explore some of the uses of sericin in different industries. Moreover, one of the most significant drawbacks of sericin forms is their poor mechanical properties. In addition, the present review considers the solutions of improvement for the mechanical characteristics of sericin.