c. 2700 BCE lore
Leizu legend
Chinese origin stories pin sericulture to the Yellow River world.
Milestones in order. This is history, not a weekly activity grid.
- Leizu legend
- Silk Road
- Byzantine smuggling lore
- Italian silk
- Pébrine / Pasteur
- Lyon silk crisis
- Nylon threat
- Parachute silk
- Suture & biomaterials
- Spider-silk startups
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
Strength44
Heat resistance30
Fire performance28
Insulation34
Workability60
Circularity50
LessMore
Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
Is Silk non-combustible?
Declared reaction class in this atlas: combustible protein. Assemblies still need resistance tests.
Does Silk insulate?
Thermal mark 34/100 versus the atlas. Conductivity note: low.
What is the density band?
~1.34 g/cm³
How is it made?
Origin story: China Neolithic / Silk Road (China).
Can it be recycled?
Circularity mark 50/100 — editorial, route-specific.
Typical melting or failure heat?
degrades; no thermoplastic melt
heat 30 · fire 28
Silk did not arrive as a finished commodity. China Neolithic / Silk Road around China still explains who makes it and which tests it sits in.
Ten dated points, five eras and three milestones below are the spine — not a complete industrial history.
Where it began
China Neolithic / Silk RoadChina
Timeline
c. 2700 BCE loreLeizu legend
Chinese origin stories pin sericulture to the Yellow River world.
Han dynastySilk Road
Filament cloth became a geopolitical cargo.
6th c. CEByzantine smuggling lore
Monks and eggs — the European industry myth.
13th c.Italian silk
Lucca, Florence, later Lyon.
19th c.Pébrine / Pasteur
Disease nearly wrecked French sericulture; microscopy saved stock.
1891Lyon silk crisis
Fashion and Asian supply shocks.
1930sNylon threat
DuPont’s filament targeted silk stockings.
WWIIParachute silk
Then nylon took the sky.
1990s–Suture & biomaterials
Fibroin scaffolds entered labs.
2010sSpider-silk startups
Recombinant proteins still chasing Bombyx economics.
The eras
6th c. CE
Byzantine smuggling lore
Monks and eggs — the European industry myth.
19th c.
Pébrine / Pasteur
Disease nearly wrecked French sericulture; microscopy saved stock.
1930s
Nylon threat
DuPont’s filament targeted silk stockings.
1990s–
Suture & biomaterials
Fibroin scaffolds entered labs.
Milestones
Italian silk
13th c.Lucca, Florence, later Lyon.
Nylon threat
1930sDuPont’s filament targeted silk stockings.
Spider-silk startups
2010sRecombinant proteins still chasing Bombyx economics.
Knowing this timeline is how to read a mill certificate without treating Silk as timeless.
Keep exploring
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