Perex
Abstract:
Biological structural materials receive increasing attention by material scientists because they have been optimized during evolution and they are therefore ideally suited to study the efficiency of nature's design principles. These materials differ fundamentally from most man-made structural materials in being structurally heterogeneous by combining different in/organic constituents into composites with hierarchical organization.
Text
We propose a hierarchical model for the prediction of the elastic properties of a mineralized arthropod cuticle using quantum-mechanical calculations to find the elastic properties at the nanoscale and employing hierarchical homogenization to find the cuticle properties at all hierarchy levels. Based on our results we suggest that the mineral-protein matrix possesses a microstructure (so-called symmetric cell material) which exhibits extremal properties in terms of stiffness [1-3]. We also discuss the role of chitin and the multifunctional optimization of the cuticle in terms of a trade off between stiffness and transport capacity of the pore canal system. Recently, we have further extended our study to analyze the stiffening impact of magnesium additions on Mg-containing calcite particles [4].
References
[1] S. Nikolov et al., Advanced Materials 22 (2010) 519.
[2] S. Nikolov et al., Journal of the Mech. Behav. of Biomed. Mater. 4 (2011) 129.
[3] M. Petrov et al., Biopolymers 99 (2013) 22.
[4] L.-F. Zhu et al., Journal of the Mech. Behav. of Biomed. Mater. 20 (2013) 296.
References
[1] S. Nikolov et al., Advanced Materials 22 (2010) 519.
[2] S. Nikolov et al., Journal of the Mech. Behav. of Biomed. Mater. 4 (2011) 129.
[3] M. Petrov et al., Biopolymers 99 (2013) 22.
[4] L.-F. Zhu et al., Journal of the Mech. Behav. of Biomed. Mater. 20 (2013) 296.