In reply to Experimental testing
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Thank you for your comment and for sharing these interesting papers. It is truly fascinating to see how nature optimizes structures at such fine length scales in order to create high performance materials in many different environments.
Certainly, meticulous experimental and computational studies can help to provide insight into the mechanisms nature uses in its design of materials. Also, as these papers highlight, it is essential to view the structure and properties of biological materials in light of their environment in order to fully understand nature's design principles.
This is a very interesting topic and presented here in an instructive and ordered manner. My pre-master project is inspired by the ongoing modeling of these silica structures, and I am trying to obtain some experimental values of the strength of the Coscinodiscus sp. diatom. With the combination of FIB and nanoindentation-techniques, I am trying to extract information from the different layers, especially the cribrum and foramen layers, and see if the size effect as described by Prof. Buehler and his group can be seen experimentally.
A. P. Garcia and M. J. Buehler. "Bioinspired nanoporous silicon provides great toughness at great deformability." Computational Materials Science,
48(2):303–309, 2010.
D. Sen and M. J. Buehler. "Atomistically-informed mesoscale model of deformation and failure of bioinspired hierarchical silica nanocomposites." International Journal of Applied Mechanics, 2(4):699–717, 2010.
This is a very interesting topic. I think the final goal is how to learn from nature and how to identify the key, the design principles, and often subtle structural features that govern the mechanisms underlying the superior properties and to then fabricate synthetic materials that fully duplicate nature’s design.
Another example is the design of biological armor from Prof. Ortiz group and Prof. Boyce group at MIT.
Bruet, B. J. F.; Song, J.; Boyce, M. C.; Ortiz, C., “Materials Design Principles of Ancient Fish Armor,” Nature Materials, 7(9), 748-756, 2008
Wang, L., Song, J., Ortiz, C., and M. C. Boyce, “Anisotropic Design of a Multilayered Biological Exoskeleton,” The Journal of Materials Research, 24(12), 3477-3494, 2009
Song, J., Reichert, S. Kallai, I., Gazit, D., Wund, M., Boyce, M. C., and C. Ortiz, “Quantitative Microstructural Studies of the Armor of the Marine Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus),” Journal of Structural Biology, 171(3), 318-331, 2010.
Yao, H., Dao, M., Imholt, T., Huang, J., Wheeler, K., Suresh, S., and C. Ortiz, “Protection Mechanisms Informed by the Unique Iron-Plated Armor of a Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vent Gastropod,” PNAS, 107(3), 987-992, 2010.
Han, L., Wang, L, Song J., Boyce, M.S. and C. Ortiz, "Direct Quantification of the Mechanical Anisotropy and Fracture of an Individual Exoskeleton Layer via Uniaxial Compression of Micropillars," Nano Letters, 11(9), 3868-3874, 2011.
In reply to From Weakness to Strength, lessons from the biopolymer in nacre
Thank you for this interesting comment and for the link to your paper. Very interesting work! Markus
Thanks for posting this interesting topic. This is a cutting edge or hot subject which needs more in depth understanding about weakness and strength. For instance, Dr. Zhi-Hui Xu in my group recently discovered an unusual phenomenon - deformation strengthening of the biopolymer in nacre. For details, please see the paper below
Thank you for your comment and for bringing attention to these papers from our group. We are very much looking forward to seeing the results of your experimental testing.
Leon