Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

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Composites Part B
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesb

A review of recent research on bio-inspired structures and materials for

energy absorption applications
Ngoc San Ha, Guoxing Lu *
Department of Mechanical and Product Design Engineering, Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, 3122,
Australia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: It is widely known that the availability of lightweight structures with excellent energy absorption capacity is
Bio-inspired structures essential for numerous engineering applications. Inspired by many biological structures in nature, bio-inspired
Biomimetics structures have been proved to exhibit a significant improvement over conventional structures in energy ab­
Energy absorption
sorption capacity. Therefore, use of the biomimetic approach for designing novel lightweight structures with
Crashworthiness
Multi-cell tubes
excellent energy absorption capacity has been increasing in engineering fields in recent years. This paper pro­
Frusta vides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in the development of bio-inspired structures for energy
Sandwich panels absorption applications. In particular, we describe the unique features and remarkable mechanical properties of
Composites biological structures such as plants and animals, which can be mimicked to design efficient energy absorbers.
Honeycombs Next, we review and discuss the structural designs as well as the energy absorption characteristics of current bio-
Foams inspired structures with different configurations and structures, including multi-cell tubes, frusta, sandwich
Lattices panels, composite plates, honeycombs, foams, building structures and lattices. These materials have been used
Building structures
for bio-inspired structures, including but not limited to metals, polymers, fibre-reinforced composites, concrete
Adaptive manufacturing
and glass. We also discussed the manufacturing techniques of bio-inspired structures based on conventional
3D printing
Impact loading methods, and adaptive manufacturing (3D printing). Finally, contemporary challenges and future directions for
bio-inspired structures are presented. This synopsis provides a useful platform for researchers and engineers to
create novel designs of bio-inspired structures for energy absorption applications.

1. Introduction
1.1. Background
Demand is increasing for lightweight structures with high energy
absorption capacity for energy absorption application in an array of
engineering fields such as aerospace, transportation, nuclear reactors,
and civil engineering. As a consequence, a number of energy absorbers
with different structures such as columns structures [1–4], sandwich
structures [5–7], plates [8–10], honeycomb [11–13], and foams [14–17]
have been proposed in recent years. Although these cited studies have
exhibited significant energy absorption capacity, the structures have not
yet been optimised. To further improve energy absorption capacity,
scientists and engineers have tried to learn from biological structures
which, through years of evolution, have optimised their structure to
adapt to various extreme environments.
In nature, plants and animals offer many excellent structures with
low density, high strength and high energy absorption capacities that
can inspire the design of novel structures with remarkable energy ab­
sorption, as shown in Fig. 1. An example is the pomelo fruit (Citrus
maxima) with a unique spongy mesocarp layer that can dissipate energy
of 80 J from free fall tests without leading to visible outer damage of the
peel [18]. Nuts also exhibit excellent impact and puncture resistances
such as Cocos nucifera shell [19] and Macadamia integrifolia shell [20].
Similarly, the durian shells with the special thorns absorbed impact
energy well when the durian fruits are dropped and impact on the
ground [21]. Lessons in high energy absorption can also be learned from
animals. A beetle forewing can withstand a puncture force up to 23 N,
which is much higher than the fighting force of the beetle [22]. Thus, the
beetle forewing plays a vital role in protecting the beetle’s hindwing and
thorax during its lifetime, a feature that can be applied to the design of
protective structures. Another good example is sheep’s horn, used as the
weapons for sheep to compete for territory, hunt for food and gain the
opportunity to mate with the females. During head-on collisions, sheep

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: glu@swin.edu.au (G. Lu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.107496
Received 10 August 2019; Received in revised form 28 September 2019; Accepted 29 September 2019
Available online 1 October 2019
1359-8368/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 1. Biological materials can provide inspiration for the design of novel bio-inspired structures with excellent energy absorption capacities.

Fig. 2. (a) Number of publications of bio-inspired structures for energy absorption based on the Scopus database (keywords shown in the Appendix); (b) the
percentage of bio-inspired structures in the energy absorber.

horns can withstand the maximum impact force of 3400 N [23]. Another
lesson can be learned from cattle horns, which show remarkable
load-bearing and energy absorption capacities [24]. The relationship
between the structural properties and energy absorption mechanisms of
several mammalian structural materials such as bones, teeth, tusks, and
horns was detailed by McKittrick et al. [25]. McKittrick and colleagues
also provided bio-inspired design strategies for creating novel energy
absorbent composite materials. Marine organisms are also good exam­
ples for inspiration. For instance, the dactyl of the peacock mantis
shrimp consists of a thick bulk with a herringbone pattern. With this
architecture, the dactyl can withstand an impact force up to 1500 N
without catastrophic breakage [26]. Naleway et al. [27] reviewed the
structural and mechanical properties and protective strategies of marine
organisms. Overall, biological materials and structures exhibit
extraordinary energy absorption capacity and provide inspiration for the
design of new energy absorbers. Mimicking bio-inspired structures from
animals and plants for energy absorption application is a promising
avenue for replacing conventional structures in future.
The biomimetic approach was first applied in an energy absorption
application in 2000. In recent years, use of the biomimetic approach in
energy absorption applications is rapidly increasing, as shown in Fig. 2a.
The use of bio-inspired structures for energy absorption applications is
not as widespread as that of conventional structures because the bionic
approach is quite new in energy absorption application and is also
limited in fabrication, as shown in Fig. 2b.
Bio-inspired structures have been employed in a wide range of ap­
plications, from the front structures of cars and trains [28,29], to
building structures [30], wings of aircraft [31] and protective armours

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 3. Categorisation of bio-inspired structures for energy absorption.

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 4. Force-displacement relationship of energy absorbers. The shaded area
under the curve represents the energy absorbed.
[32]. Materials that have been used for manufacturing the bio-inspired
structures include aluminium alloys and mild steel [33], polymers [34],
fibre-reinforced composite [35], concrete [36] and glass [37].
The objective of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview
of recent advances in the development of bio-inspired structures for
energy absorption applications. In particular, the structural design and
energy absorption characteristics of current bio-inspired structures with
different configurations such as multi-cell tubes, frusta, sandwich
panels, composite plates, honeycombs, foams, building structures, and
the other specific structures are reviewed and discussed. The catego­
risation of bio-inspired structures for energy absorption is summarized
in Fig. 3. Furthermore, we detail materials that have been used for bio-
inspired structures, including but not limited to metals, polymers, fibre-
reinforced composites, and concrete. We also discuss the manufacturing
techniques of bio-inspired structures including machine and adaptive
manufacturing (3D printing). Finally, the contemporary challenges and
future directions of the bio-inspired structures are considered.
1.2. Crashworthiness criteria
In this review, crashworthiness criteria used to evaluate the perfor­
mance of bio-inspired structures are defined based on the force-
displacement curve of an energy absorber under crushing force. A
typical force-displacement curve is presented in Fig. 4.
Initial peak crushing force (IPCF): Defined as the peak force at an early
stage in the crushing process of a structure.
Energy absorption (EA): Energy absorption is mainly used to evaluate
an energy absorber’s ability to dissipate crushing energy through plastic
deformation. It can be calculated as follows:
Z dmax
EAðdÞ ¼ FðxÞdx (1)
0
where F(x) is the crushing force as a function of displacement x during
the crushing process, dmax is the effective deformation distance.
Specific energy absorption (SEA): The absorbed energy by a structure
per unit mass given by:
SEAðdÞ ¼
EAðdÞ
(2)
m cell sections have been introduced to the circular tubes [48–50]. To
where m is the mass of the energy absorber. The SEA is often used to
compare the energy-absorbing ability of different materials and
structures.
Specific energy absorption per unit volume (SEAv): The energy absorbed
by a structure per unit volume given by:
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Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496
EAðdÞ
SEAv ¼ (3)
V
where V is the volume of the energy absorber.
Mean crushing force (Pm): The average compressive force exerted by
the energy absorber over the total effective deformation. It is defined as:
Z dmax
FðxÞdx
EAðdÞ
Pm ¼ ¼ 0 (4)
dmax dmax
Energy absorption efficiency (Ed) of a structure at a particular strain, εa,
is defined as
Z εd
σðεÞdε
Ed ðεa Þ ¼ 0 (5)
σa
where σa is the stress at εa. The stress and strain are determined from the
stress-strain curve that is converted from the force-displacement curve.
2. Bio-inspired thin-wall structures
2.1. Bio-inspired circular tubes
Circular tubes are considered the most common shape utilised in
energy absorption due to their high strength, high stiffness, inexpen­
siveness, versatility, ease of manufacture, as well as high energy ab­
sorption capacity [38–41]. Mimicking the natural structures could lead
to design efficient circular structures with improved energy absorption
capacity. Xin et al. [42] mimicked the discontinuous and interdigitated
design strategy of nacre structure to improve the SEA of a carbon/epoxy
composite tube, as shown in Fig. 5A. The experimental results showed
that tubes with helical and nacre-mimicking ply cut structures exhibited
a smoother load-crushed displacement curve compared to unidirectional
continuous tubes. This work demonstrated that in the crushing process,
unidirectional composites with a well-designed discontinuity at the ply
level could improve the SEA by over 51% as compared to that of the
unidirectional continuous tubes. Inspired by wood structure, Zorzetto
and Ruffoni [43] proposed a novel wood-inspired helix-reinforced cyl­
inder. The proposed structures consisted of a main layer containing
helicoidal fibres, bordered by inner and outer plies having thinner fi­
brils, as shown in Fig. 5B. The experimental and numerical results
demonstrated that failure resistance and energy absorption can be
enhanced by enclosing the main helicoidal layer with a minimum
amount of thin fibrils oriented perpendicular to the applied load, as
observed in wood.
It is clear that two bio-inspired circular tubes presented in Fig. 5A
and B focused on the design of wall structures of the tubes. Therefore,
the modifications of the inner structures of the tube are also promising
ways to improve the energy absorption capacity of the circular tubes.
The wings of birds, especially bones, were specialised in bending and
torsion [44–46], which are good candidates for designing energy ab­
sorbers. The experimental and theoretical results revealed that the
presence of reinforcing structures (struts and ridges) found within bird
wing bones increased the energy absorption capacity of the tube with a
minimum weight penalty for both bending and torsional loads [47].
2.2. Bio-inspired multi-cell tubes
To improve the energy absorption capacity of circular tubes, multi-
further improve the energy absorption of multi-cell tubes, many
bio-inspired multi-cell structures mimicking different biological struc­
tures have been proposed in recent years.
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 5. (A) (a) Hierarchy of abalone structure showing that the nacre is composed of highly discontinuous and interdigitated aragonite platelets (b) Schematic of the
nacre-inspired composite tube. The ply cut regions and fibre orientations are denoted in red and blue. (c) Progressive failure of the bio-inspired tube. (1) pre-
experiment, (2) immediately after the first collapse, (3–4) crushed state during the sustained collapse, (5) post-test view of the crushed end of the specimen
[42]; (B) wood-inspired fibre-reinforced composites consisting of a three-layer cylindrical structure. Reference cylinders feature a main middle layer (S2) with
helicoidal fibres having a winding angle (defined as the direction of the fibres with respect to the cylinder main axis) ranging from 0� to 45� . 3D Polyjet printing
technique was used to fabricate the tubes. The post-failure configurations [43]. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the Web version of this article.)

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Fig. 6. Bamboo-inspired structures. (A) with the bionic element close to the vascular structures [52]; (B) with different bionic elements [54]; (C) with modified
bionic element [55]; (D) with simplified bionic element [33]; (E) novel bionic elements [56].

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 7. (A) Horsetail [57]; (B) Horsetail-inspired structures under lateral loading [58], (C) Horsetail bio-inspired structures with foam [59]; (D) Horsetail bio-inspired
structures under axial loading [57].
2.2.1. Bamboo
Bamboo is a lightweight biological composite material with higher
stiffness–mass ratio than some metallic materials such as steel and
aluminium [51]. In nature, bamboo can withstand extreme loads such as
the bending loading from the wind and axial loading from its weight.
Consequently, bamboo has a unique design consisting of a tubular col­
umn with periodic nodes. These nodes are characterised by an internal
diaphragm and an external ridge [51]. The bamboo nodes enhance both
the bending and compressive strength as well as preventing bamboo
from cracking under lateral and compressive loading. The microstruc­
ture of bamboo shows that its vascular structure is a multi-cell structure
with a gradient distribution. Therefore, the internal diaphragm, external
ridge and multi-cell vascular structures of bamboo are excellent features
for mimicking to design thin-walled structures with high energy ab­
sorption capacity.
In an effort to design an efficient energy absorber, Zou et al. [52]
proposed a bio-inspired multi-cell tube (BMT) mimicking the structural
characteristics of the bamboo. The BMT consisted of four circular tubes
connected through a series of bionic elements, as shown in Fig. 6A. The
design of the cross-section of these bionic elements was based on the
bamboo vascular structures. The gradient distribution of the vascular
structures in the bamboo was also mimicked for the BMT with 18, 9 and
4 bionic elements in each layer from the outside to the inside of the BMT
(Fig. 6A). Numerical results indicated that the bionic design improved
the SEA of the tubes in both lateral and axial impact loading. In another
study, Feng et al. [53] investigated the effect of the bionic element shape
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on energy absorption capabilities. Three bionic element types were
designed. From numerical simulations, the authors realised that the
bio-inspired tube with the bionic element close to the vascular structures
had the best energy absorption performance. However, the shape of that
bionic element was complex; thus, it would be difficult to analyse its
structural characteristics as well as to fabricate its prototype. Therefore,
the authors suggested that a triangular bionic element was suitable for
use in the bamboo-inspired tube. Most recently, the tube with “X” sha­
ped bionic elements exhibited better energy absorption than that with
triangular bionic elements [54] (Fig. 6B).
In the aforementioned bamboo-inspired tubes, the bionic elements
were uniform. However, the relevant vascular structures were not uni­
form, with their size increasing from the outside to the inside of the
bamboo. Therefore, Ma et al. [55] designed a bionic structure that
mimicked the gradient distribution of vascular bundles of bamboo, as
shown in Fig. 6C. The numerical results showed that the load-bearing
capacity of the bionic shell was increased by 124.8%. It is evident that
the numerical simulation was heavily used to study bamboo-inspired
tubes.
Experimental studies of bamboo-inspired tubes have received limited
attention, due to the difficulty of manufacturing the bionic element.
However, Chen et al. [33] simplified the bionic element to a thin wall
and experimentally studied such elements in on three new BMTs
mimicking the cross-section and nodes of bamboo: bionic tubes of var­
iable thickness, bionic tubes with rib, and bionic tubes with a bamboo
cross-section, as shown in Fig. 6D. Using different designs of the vascular
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 8. (A) Cattail structures [60]; (B) Cross-beam and bionic box bumper model [28]; (C) Bionic cross-beam and box bumper model [28].

Fig. 9. (A) Bamboo and palm cross-section structures, (B) Multi-cell structures, (C) bio-inspired multi-cell structures [61].

structures, a bionic honeycomb tubular nested structure inspired by
bamboo was manufactured by a wire electrical discharge machining
technique, as shown in Fig. 6E [56]. All results demonstrated that bio­
mimetic methods could improve energy absorption performance.
2.2.2. Horsetail
Similar to bamboo structures, the horsetail plant also contains hol­
low multi-cell structures (Fig. 7A) that can withstand lateral loading
conditions such as wind and rain [57]. Therefore, “optimised” structures
of horsetail have provided good stimuli to develop the bio-inspired
structures for energy absorption. Horsetail bio-inspired multi-cell
tubes (HBMTs) were first investigated by Yin et al. [58]. They evaluated
six kinds of HBMTs with different cross-sectional configurations under
lateral loading conditions, using a nonlinear finite element method, as
shown in Fig. 7B. Compared to circular and square tubes, the HBMTs had
superior crashworthiness in the lateral loading direction. To further

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 10. (A) Ladybeetle forewing microstructures, (B) Japanese beetle forewing microstructures [63].
improve the crashworthiness of HBMTs, Yin et al. [59] introduced foam
to the HBMTs, as shown in Fig. 7C. It can be seen that the HBMTs
exhibited excellent performance under lateral loading. However, the
behaviour of HBMTs under the axial loading was not fully understood.
Consequently, Xiao et al. [57] investigated and optimised six HBMTs
proposed by Yin et al. [58] under axial dynamic loading, as shown in
Fig. 7D. The results showed that the more cells present in HBMTs, the
higher the SEA and IPCF of the HBMTs.
2.2.3. Cattail
Cattail plants are found in streams, lakes, marshes, rivers, and other
shallow water areas, as shown in Fig. 8A. The stems and leaves have a
distinct twisted chiral morphology to adapt to their environment. Zhao
et al. [60] found that cattail leaves had evolved multi-cell structures and
superior mechanical properties against wind loading, as shown in
Fig. 8A. Inspired by cattail structures, Xu et al. [28] proposed a bionic
bumper with a cross-beam mimicking the internal rib structure of cattail
(Fig. 8C, (b)) and a crash box imitating bamboo structures (Fig. 8B (c)).
Simulation results indicated that the bionic design enhanced the SEA of
the bumper. Moreover, the bionic cross-beam and bionic box of the bi­
onic bumper had a significant effect on the crashworthiness of the
structure. The crush deformation and total weight of the bionic
cross-beam and box were reduced by 33.33% and 44.44%, respectively.
2.2.4. Palm
The stems of palms are characterised as cone-shaped columns with
many nodes [61]. Similar to bamboo, the nodes of the palm enhance
both the bending and compressive strength [62]. Besides the nodes, the
shape and distribution of vascular bundles of the palm are also inter­
esting, as shown in Fig. 9A and B. It is clear that the individual bundle is
similar to a tetragon or pentagon cell and the cells are confined to form a
multi-cell structure. The distribution of vascular bundles in the palm is a
unique feature that could inspire the design of a bio-inspired energy
absorber with remarkable energy absorption capacity. Liu et al. [61]
investigated the energy absorption of a bio-inspired multi-cell carbon
fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) and aluminium (Al) square tubes under
quasi-static axial crushing (Fig. 9C). Stable progressive folding with
inextensional mode was found in Al tubes and progressive end crushing
in CFRP tubes. The cell number significantly affected the crashworthi­
ness characteristics in both CFRP and Al tubes. The SEA of double-cell
and triple-cell CFRP tubes improved by approximately 17.0% and
2.4%, respectively, compared to that of single-cell tubes.
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Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496
2.2.5. Beetle forewing
The trabeculae structure in the beetle forewing is also an excellent
structure for inspiration, as shown in Fig. 10. By observing the internal
structures of the ladybeetle and Japanese beetle forewings, Xiang and
Du [63] proposed two new BMTs. The new BMTs consisted of honey­
combs and circular tubes where the circular tubes were placed at the
centre of the honeycombs or on the walls of the honeycombs, as shown
in Table 1. Based on the study of Xiang and Du, Hao and Du [64]
investigated the energy absorption characteristics of three BMTs with
different positions of circular tubes on the honeycomb walls, as shown in
Table 1. In another study, Xiang et al. [65] mimicked the internal
structure of the lady beetle forewing to introduce circular tubes in hol­
low cylindrical structures with various polygonal cross-sections. The
concept of BMT inspired by the lady beetle forewing is similar to that of
bi-tubular energy absorbers that have been intensely investigated in the
literature [66–72]. Comparisons of bi-tubular BMTs with equal mass
showed that the thickness of the inner wall and the cross-sectional
configurations significantly influenced the energy absorption of the
structure. In order to study the effect of the position of the circular tube
as well as the shape of the cross-section, Zhang et al. [73] synthetically
studied a series of BMTs with quadrilateral, hexagonal and octagonal
sections. Zhang et al. [33] modified the bionic octagonal multi-cell tubes
proposed by Zhang et al. [73]. Recently, Yu et al. [74] studied the effect
of corrugation on the crushing behaviour of BMT. In another study,
Zhang et al. [75] considered the hierarchical circular tubes (HCTs) by
iteratively adding self-similar sub-circles at the junctions of the primary
ribs, as shown in Table 1.
2.2.6. Bone and tendon
Bones and tendons of both humans and animals are also potential
candidates for designing energy absorber. Wang et al. [29] proposed a
bio-inspired crash box mimicking the human tibia, as shown in Fig. 11A.
The crash box consisted of a concave structure shell and an inner core
filled with negative Poisson’s ratio structure material. The inner core
was designed based on the gradient characteristics of the cancellous
bone structure of the tibia. Simulation results showed that the proposed
new crash box had superior energy absorption ability and
stable collision process to those of the original crash box. In another
study, Tsang and Raza [76] proposed hierarchical tubular tubes inspired
by the micro-to nano-architecture of tendon and muscle, as shown in
Fig. 11B. The tubes were constructed by packing smaller tubes into a
tube of a higher hierarchical level. They revealed that the impact energy
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Table 1
Summary of bio-inspired columns mimicking beetle forewing structures.
Authors Configuration Summary of findings Refs

Xiang and Impact with velocity of 10 m/s and mass of 500 kg [63]
Du The length of the BMTs was 50 mm
The SEA of the BMTs (b) and (c) increased by 9.79%, 35.97% respectively compared with the conventional
structure (a)

Hao and Du Impact with velocity of 10 m/s and mass of 500 kg [64]
Length of the BMTs was 50 mm
The SEA of the BMTs (b), (c) and (d) increased by 90.56%, 68.33% and107.68% respectively compared with
the conventional structure (a)

Xiang et al. Impact with velocity of 10 m/s and mass of 500 kg [65]
Length and circumcircle diameter of columns were 200 mm and of 377 mm, respectively
Absorption characteristics of circular and octangular bio-inspired structures improved

Zhang et al. Length and circumcircle diameter of columns were 240 mm and of 100 mm, respectively. [73]
Impact with the velocity of 10 m/s and mass of 500 kg
The sixth type of bionic multi-cell tube with octagonal section (O-BMT-6) had the best crashing performance

Yu et al. Length and largest width were 20 mm and 30 mm, respectively [74]
Material was EOS stainless steel PH1
Velocity was 10 mm/min
The SEA of the bio-inspired hexagonal structure was 5 times greater than that of corrugated square box

Zhang et al. Impact with velocity of 10 m/s and mass of 600 kg. [75]
The hierarchy improved the crashworthiness of HCT, especially; the 2nd-order HCT exhibited significant
advantages for energy absorption efficiency

absorption capability could be significantly improved when the hierar­
chy was introduced, especially for higher orders of hierarchy.
For evaluation of the performance and efficiency of the bio-inspired
structures, the SEA and the increase of SEA of bio-inspired structures
with respect to conventional structures (CS) are summarized in Fig. 12.
It is clear that the bamboo-inspired structures (structure-1) and the
beetle forewing-inspired structure (structure-13) show a significant
increment in SEA compared with the other structures. Therefore these
two structures show promise for designing efficient energy absorbers.
deformation mode from an expansion-contraction mode to a progressive
mode, while the bulkheads themselves absorbed little energy. It was
found that the smallest number of bulkheads in a column, while still
maintaining the progressive deformation mode, was the best design for
achieving the highest SEA. The SEA and the increase in the SEA of the
BNCMC with respect to a square tube are shown in Fig. 13E.
2.4. Bio-inspired corrugated tubes

Recently, researchers have paid much attention to sinusoidal and

2.3. Bio-inspired multi-corner tubes
It is well-known that non-convex multi-corner thin-walled columns
(NCMCs) have a greater energy absorption capacity than traditional
square columns under axial loading [2]. However, when the wall
thickness and corners of NCMCs were increased, a non-compact
expansion-contraction deformation mode was observed, as shown in
Fig. 13A. As a result, less energy was absorbed by the NCMCs.
Therefore, Liu et al. [77] mimicked bamboo nodes and nodal di­
aphragms (Fig. 13B) to design bio-inspired non-convex multi-corner
thin-walled columns (BNCMC) by adding bulkheads in the column to
improve the energy absorption property, as shown in Fig. 13C. The
numerical results showed that the plastic deformation of BNCMC was in
the progressive deformation mode and this structure showed greater
energy absorption than a similar column without the bulkheads, as
shown in Fig. 13D. The role of the bulkheads was to change the
corrugation surface patterns because the corrugation tubes can make the
collapse mode more predictable and controllable [78–81]. However, the
previous experimental and numerical results demonstrated that the si­
nusoidal corrugation tubes exhibited a quite small energy absorption
compared to the conventional straight tube. Ha et al. [82] proposed a
novel tubular corrugated configuration mimicking the coconut tree
profile, called a “conical corrugation tube” (CCT), in an attempt to
enhance energy absorption, minimize the initial peak crushing force and
stabilize the crushing process, as shown in Fig. 14A. They found that the
SEA of the CCT was 2.8 times greater than that of the sinusoidal
corrugated tube. Hundertmart et al. [83] introduced a crash-pad
inspired by the structure of a diatom as an energy absorber for vehi­
cles in lateral collisions, as shown in Fig. 14B. The crash-pad, charac­
terised by three undulations with different height, was produced from
different materials: conventional talc reinforced polypropylene and a
natural fibre reinforced plastic. Compression tests revealed that the

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 11. (A) Bone-mimetic crash box [29]; (B) bio-inspired tubular tube mimicking tendon structures [76].
bio-inspired crash pads performed better than or equal to their technical
counterpart.
2.5. Bio-inspired tapered tube
Frusta and tapered tubes with different cross-sectional shapes such as
circular, rectangular and square have been keenly investigated as energy
absorbers because they have many excellent features compared with
circular tubes. Recently, researchers have shown an interest in bio-
inspired frusta structures for energy absorption. Li et al. [84] designed
three types of BMT based on the structural characteristics of the
trabecular tube of the beetle forewing. The proposed bio-inspired
energy-absorbing structures used a similar concept of double-section
bi-tubular tubes that had been comprehensively studied in the litera­
ture [66,67]. However, the bio-inspired structures consisted of a hex­
agonal tapered tube and a circular tapered tube as shown in Fig. 15A.
The plastic deformation under impact loading of the bio-inspired
structure was compared to that of the double circular tube and double
frusta tube, as shown in Fig. 15B. It is evident that deformation of the
bio-inspired structure was the most stable of the three tube types
(Fig. 15B, b3) and could thus be used as an ideal energy-absorbing
bumper device [84]. Subsequently, Li and Guo [84] modified the
tapered tubes using horizontal or vertical grooves, as shown in Fig. 15C.
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They found that the horizontal groove structures had a smooth defor­
mation (Fig. 15D) and suggested that the forewing trabeculae possessed
excellent absorptive capacity and provided a direction for designing a
bio-inspired energy absorber for applications such as automobiles (see
Fig. 15).
In another study, Meng et al. [85] proposed a bio-inspired multi-cell
conical tube mimicking the ox-horn structures, as shown in Fig. 15E.
They performed a series of numerical simulations and demonstrated that
the deformation of the bio-inspired tube was asymptotic telescoping
deformation. Moreover, the SEA of the bio-inspired tube was around
46.2 kJ/kg, which was about 1.3 times and 1.8 times greater than that of
the 4-cell conical tube and conical tube, respectively. Most recently,
inspired by the structure of a from balanus (a genus of barnacle),
Akbulut [86,87] proposed a bio-inspired conical structure that consisted
of an inner conical core structure and an outer shell frusta structure, as
shown in Fig. 15F. They reported that the load carried by the
balanus-inspired frusta was greater than the arithmetical total of the
load carried by the inner core and the outer shell due to the interaction
effect. Moreover, the energy-absorbing performance of the
balanus-inspired frusta improved under dynamic loading.
In a different study, Li et al. [88] imitated the lotus root shape to
design an efficient lotus root-like core for a crash box, as shown in
Fig. 15G. The unit cell of the core was composed of two hexagonal frusta.
N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 12. (a) SEA of bio-inspired structures; (b) Increase in the SEA of bio-
inspired structures with respect to CS.
The authors demonstrated that the energy absorption capacity of the
novel lotus root-filled tube was greater than that of the conventional
tube under the condition of the same mass. The SEA and the increase in
the SEA of the bio-inspired frusta are shown in Fig. 16. It is evident that
the horn-inspired frusta show a higher SEA and greater percentage
increment in the SEA compared with those of balanus-inspired frusta.
3. Bio-inspired plate
3.1. Bio-inspired sandwich panels
3.1.1. Beetle forewing sandwich panels
As stated in Section 2.2.5, the trabecular microstructures of beetle
forewing were mimicked to fabricate BMTs. However, the beetle fore­
wing is a sandwich structure that consists of an upper laminated plate, a
trabecular structure as core and a lower laminated plate. The sandwich
structures of the beetle forewing have mechanical and thermal protec­
tion roles [22,89]. Therefore, these structures can be mimicked to devise
excellent sandwich structures for energy absorption. Chen et al. [90] and
Zhang et al. [34] proposed creating beetle forewing sandwich panels
(BSPs) by inserting circular tubes at the intersection of honeycomb
walls, similar to the structures presented in Table 1. However, Chen and
12
Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496
Zhang and colleagues first discovered the shared mechanisms between
the reinforced circular tube and the cell walls in the BSPs to elucidate the
enhancement of energy absorption. The plastic deformations of BSPs
under axial and lateral loading were investigated [91]. Chen et al. [92]
investigated the influence of the trabecular radius and height of the BSPs
on the compressive strength, energy dissipation capacity, and interac­
tive mechanism between trabecular and honeycomb wall structures. In
another study, Zhang et al. [93] studied the effect of honeycomb di­
mensions and fabrication methods on the mechanical properties of the
BSPs relative to honeycomb plates via compression experiments and the
finite element method. The effect of the honeycomb cell walls on the
energy absorption characteristic and failure mechanism of the BSPs was
studied by Xu et al. [94]. To investigate the effect of the material
properties on the performance of the BSPs, Zhang et al. [95] manufac­
tured metal BSPs using 3D-printing technique. Most recently, the effect
of number of reinforced circular tubes on the crushing behaviour of the
BSPs was studied [96]. Using different designs of cores, aluminium
honeycomb and 3D printed horizontal oval cores were used in BSPs [97,
98]. Table 2 provides a summary of BSPs.
3.1.2. Other species
A number of BSPs mimicking other species have been proposed. Wu
et al. [101] inspired the turtle’s shell to design a BSP with improved
crashworthiness under dynamic loading. The BSPs were composed of
two CFRP panels and an aluminium honeycomb, as shown in Fig. 17A. It
was found that the BSPs provided greater energy absorption and lower
peak load during impact compared with the bare CFRP.
Besides turtle shell, the dactyl club of the peacock mantis shrimp has
been of considerable interest to scientists. Yang et al. [102] proposed a
novel lightweight bio-inspired double-sine corrugated (DSC) sandwich
structure by mimicking the microstructures of dactyl club to enhance the
impact resistance, as shown in Fig. 17B. Compared with the regular
triangular and sinusoidal corrugated core sandwich panels, the
bio-inspired DSC sandwich panels significantly improved the crash­
worthiness and reduced the initial peak force. Similar to the DSC
sandwich structures proposed by Yang et al. [102], Yang et al. [103]
fabricated the DSC structures mimicking the telson (tail plate) of mantis
shrimp using selective laser melting method, as shown in 17C. The
wavelength and amplitude of DSC structures were then optimised to
maximise the SEA.
The Woodpecker’s head is another good candidate for designing bio-
inspired structures for energy absorption. Sabah et al. [104] proposed a
bio-inspired sandwich beam (BSB) mimicking the woodpecker’s head
structure to improve low-velocity impact behaviour (Fig. 17D). A BSB
was comprised of carbon fibre laminated skins with rubber and
aluminium honeycomb cores. Experimental and numerical results
showed that the bio-inspired beams were consistently superior to con­
ventional beams, with low developed stress, deformation, and damage
area while sustaining a greater maximum impact force. A year later,
Sabah et al. [105] modified their design in Ref. [105] with a new
configuration that contained four main layers: CFRP top and bottom
skins sandwiching rubber and aluminium honeycomb cores. Ha et al.
[106] mimicked the microstructure of a woodpecker’s beak to design a
novel BSP, as shown in Fig. 17E. The proposed panel exhibited superior
energy absorption capability compared with a conventional honeycomb
sandwich panel under dynamic crushing. In particular, the SEA of the
proposed panel increased by 125% and 63.7%, respectively, compared
with that of honeycomb sandwich panels with the same thickness core or
the same volume core. Guzel et al. [107] were inspired by the structure
of the balanus species to design a novel sandwich structure which
composed of a bio-inspired core with an array of bio-inspired conical
tubes and two face sheets, as shown in Fig. 17F. The bio-inspired conical
tube was designed in the same way as a structure proposed by Akbulut
et al. [87]. In a different study, Ullah et al. [31] analysed the
compression performance of Ti–6Al–4V Kagome truss core structures
mimicking the bone structures of birds in composite sandwich
N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 13. Bio-inspired multi-corner tube. (A) non-compact expansion-contraction deformation mode; (B) Bamboo structures; (C) Bamboo-inspired structure; (D)
Progressive deformation mode of bamboo-inspired structure; (E) SEA characteristics [77].
structures. The performance of the proposed titanium core in both
compression and shear was superior in strength and equal in stiffness to
honeycomb cores for aerospace applications.
Besides structures from animals, plant structures have also attracted
extensive interest in recent years. Haldar et al. [108] designed a
bio-inspired sandwich composite structure composed of CFRP sheets
and polymeric foam core mimicking the structure of Palmetto wood, as
shown in Fig. 17G. The foam core of the sandwich composites was
reinforced by pultruded carbon rods mimicking the macrofibre rein­
forcement of Palmetto wood. Meanwhile, Shi et al. [109] and Sun et al.
[110] imitated leaf structures to design a sandwich panel with a
bio-inspired core, as shown in Fig. 17H. The core was designed by filling
honeycomb into a proper orthogrid. The results revealed that the
honeycomb-filled orthogrid core sandwich improved the specific
strength and energy absorption ability. Bur et al. [115] mimicked the
hierarchical structures of tree leaves to improve the load-bearing ca­
pacity of a sandwich plate. The optimisation of the sandwich core based
on tree leaf structures was reported by Sun et al. [111].
Fig. 18 shows the SEA and percentage increment in the SEA of BSP
with respect to CS. It is clear that, among the BSPs, the beetle-inspired
sandwich exhibits the highest volumetric energy absorbed (Fig. 18A).
Meanwhile, the BSPs mimicking the structure of Palmetto wood show
13
Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496
the largest increment in the SEA compared with the other structures
(Fig. 18B).
3.2. Bio-inspired plates
3.2.1. Bio-inspired helicoidal composite plates
The helicoidal structure or Bouligand structure was firstly proposed
by Bouligand [112] and found in the cuticle in most crustacean species.
The helicoidal structure enhances the stiffness, strength and hardness
required to protect the animal and allow movement and predation.
Therefore, a composite structure with helicoidal lay-up structures might
improve damage tolerance and mitigate impact forces.
One of the first studies to shed light on bio-inspired helicoidal lay-up
structures was performed by Archipatbut et al. [113]. Based on the
helical structure of bone, they fabricated a carbon/epoxy composite
plate comprising 40 layers of helicoidal lay-up architecture. In a series of
experimental setups using tensile, punch and impact testing methods,
they revealed that the specimen with a helicoidal stacking sequence had
better penetration resistance and improved energy absorption. Ravi
et al. [114] investigated the effect of strain rate on the behaviour of
helicoidal composite plates, considering low and high-speed impact
velocities. As in the preceding results, they found that helicoidal
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 14. (A) Bio-inspired conical corrugation tube [82]; (B) Crash-pad inspired by the structure of a diatom [83].

Fig. 15. Bio-inspired conical tubes; (A), (B), (C), and (D) [84], (E) Horn-inspired conical tube [85], (F) Balanus-inspired conical structure [87]; (G) Lotus root-like
core and lotus root-filled tube [88].

laminates were significantly superior to standard lay-ups under
quasi-static loading conditions. For high-velocity impact, the helicoidal
laminate showed a 25% improvement over a standard lay-up when the
velocity was in the range 150–200 m/s. Beyond this range, however, the
performance of the helicoidal lay-up was very similar to that of the
standard lay-up. In another study, Chen et al. [115] proposed helicoidal
structures mimicking the microstructures of beetle and crab with the
stacking sequence involving a gradual rotation of each lamina in the
multi-layered laminated composite, as shown in Fig. 19A. Quasi-static
measurements indicated that the bio-inspired laminate exhibited sig­
nificant improvements in mechanical performance compared to com­
posite structures with a general quasi-isotropic configuration. In later
years, Grunenfelder et al. [35] applied the helicoidal design strategy
observed in the stomatopod club to design high-performance carbon
fibre/epoxy composites, as shown in Fig. 19B. Experimental and
computational results showed that the bio-inspired helicoidal

14
N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 16. SEA and the increase in the SEA of bio-inspired tapered structures with
respect to CS.
architecture helped reduce through-thickness damage propagation in a
composite panel during an impact event, resulting in an increase in
toughness.
A few years later, Ginzburg et al. [116] designed a bio-inspired
composite laminate that was similar to that of Grunenfelder’s study.
They investigated three square plates with different planar sizes and
demonstrated that the helicoidal lay-ups were more effective at
absorbing energy. Besides, low-velocity impact simulation revealed that
the helicoidal arrangement suffered the least fibre damage. Shang et al.
[117] fabricated and tested carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composite
laminate with helicoidal lay-ups. Under transverse loads, these
bio-inspired plates displayed a monotonically increasing
load-displacement response followed by abrupt failure without the
intermittent load drops seen in crossplies. When the interply angle in the
helicoidal laminates was small, they could sustain higher loads than the
crossplies. Hazzard et al. [118] investigated the effect of fibre archi­
tecture including cross-ply, quasi-isotropic and rotational helicoidal
layups on the damage and deformation mechanisms under low-velocity
impact. In that study, instead of a uni-directional sublayer of the com­
posite, a sub-layer of [0� /90� ] was used. Karthi et al. [119] investigated
the relationship between lay-up structures and failure mechanisms.
Zaheri et al. [120] revealed the mechanics of helicoidal composites
using 3D printed bio-inspired samples. Jiang et al. [121] considered
lay-ups based on the non-linear rotation angle. Most recently, Abir et al.
[122] proposed an improved finite element model to determine the
ballistic limit of helicoidal laminates. Table 3 shows the lay-up struc­
tures as well as the main results of current studies of helicoidal
structures.
3.2.2. Nacre bio-inspired composite laminate
Besides the structures of the crustacean cuticle, nacre structures have
also attracted much attention. Bio-inspired composite laminate
mimicking nacre structures were proposed early by Wang et al. [123]. A
Si3N4/BN ceramic bio-inspired composite laminate was fabricated
using plastic forming methods. Three-point bending test results indi­
cated that the bio-inspired laminate exhibited non-brittle behaviour and
the fracture toughness was about 1.16 times greater than that of the
monolithic plate. Subsequently, the nacre-inspired composite plates
were increasingly studied by many researchers. For instance, Tran et al.
[124] designed a composite panel mimicking nacre’s microstructure
using E-glass/vinylester, as shown in Fig. 20A. They found that the
bio-inspired composite structure helped to relieve stress concentration
and delamination which occurred in a conventional composite laminate.
Ngo and his group [125–127] designed and fabricated nacre-inspired
composite plates with the various complex geometries of the nacreous
shells observed from nature, such as a dome-shaped structure using
dual-material 3D-printing technology, as shown in Fig. 20B. The
nacreous model was validated against a natural nacre specimen under
uniaxial loading. Most recently, Ko et al. [128] conducted three-point
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Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496
bending tests to evaluate the energy absorption capacity of
nacre-inspired plates (Fig. 20C) and reported that SEA of the
nacre-inspired plated was 11% larger than that of a single plastic plate. It
is noted that at the sub-micron scale, the mechanical properties of nacre
structures depend strongly on feature size [129]. Therefore, the nacre
structures at sub-micron scale may have dramatically different proper­
ties compared with the macroscopic 3D printed nacre-models. For the
macroscopic scale, the effects of geometrical parameters of
nacre-inspired plates on their mechanical properties, especially, fracture
energy and energy absorption are not fully understood. Frølich et al.
[130] presented a framework for the performance of the nacre-inspired
plates using the combination of parametric modelling, multi-material
3D printing, and direct mechanical testing. The nacre-inspired plates
were printed in transparent (rigid and flexible) polymers to inspect the
fracture behaviour and tablet collision during mechanical testing, as
shown in Fig. 20D.
Unlike earlier studies [125], Flores-Johnson considered the effect of
interlocking mechanisms between tablets [131,132], as shown in
Fig. 20E. Numerical results showed that the nacre-like composite plate
improved in blast resistance performance, in that higher loads were
required to reach the onset of failure compared to conventional com­
posite laminate (flat and continuous interface). Sarvestani et al. [133]
revealed that nacre-like ceramics with lower stiffness absorbed more
energy in impact loads, but the nacre-like ceramics with higher stiffness
absorbed more energy in a quasi-static load. Grace et al. [134] proposed
a different design of nacre-like composite plate using two base materials
assembled in a ply with orientation angles of 0 and 90� forming nacreous
architecture (see Fig. 20F). The experimental and simulation results
showed that the nacre-like designs outperformed the constituent mate­
rials in impact resistance. A year later, Grace et al. [135] mimicked the
complexity of the conch shell architecture to create 3D bio-inspired
laminated structures, as shown in Fig. 20G. They demonstrated that
adding a second level of the cross-lamellar hierarchy boosted impact
performance and the stiff constituent by 70% and 85%, respectively,
compared to a single-level hierarchy. These studies [134,135] empha­
sized that the soft interlayer mortar has an important role in energy
dissipation of the nacreous structure under dynamic loads. However, the
role of interface properties for enhancing the impact resistance remains
poorly understood. Therefore, Wu et al. [136] revealed the role of
interfacial strength and impact velocity in impact resistance of the
nacreous structure using 3D finite element simulation, 3D printing
technique and drop-tower impact testing. They demonstrated that the
simultaneous intralayer radial cracks propagation and interlayer
delamination caused a maximal energy dissipation in the presence of the
optimal interfacial strength.
Another kind of bio-inspired structure mimicking nacre structures is
staggered composite plates, as shown in Fig. 20H [137–139]. Staggered
composite plates greatly enhanced energy dissipation. Lee et al. [140]
used a rolling method to investigate a nacre-inspired composite plate
fabricated by alumina particles and epoxy resin.
3.2.3. Fish scale bio-inspired plates
Fish can possess flexible dermal armour for protection that can be
inspired to design bio-inspired protective devices with high penetration
resistance and energy absorption. In Arapaima gigas dermal armour,
scales were made up of an external hard mineral layer on a multilayered
collagen backing [141]. Inspired by Arapaima gigas dermal armour,
Signetti et al. [142] proposed a fish-inspired plate using a hard face and
soft backing layers to create ceramic-composite panels for impact pro­
tection applications, as shown in Fig. 21A.
In modern teleost fishes, the overlapping of scales is prominent in the
dermal protection arrangement. Using the overlapping strategy, a new
composite architecture was proposed [143–151], as shown in
Fig. 21B–G. For example, Rudykh et al. [143] designed hybrid stiff
plate/soft matrix material architectures inspired by the imbricated
scale-tissue flexible armour of elasmoid fish and reveal their ability to
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Table 2
Summary of bio-inspired sandwich structures mimicking beetle forewing structures.
Authors Geometry Highlight results Ref.

Chen et al. Material for BSP was chopped-basalt-fibre-reinforced polymer [90]

Quasi-static loading at the speed of 1 mm/min
The hollow trabeculae in the BSP were dominated by compressive deformation, resulting in a convex curve
with three half-waves
Energy absorption of BSP was higher by 115% than conventional honeycomb plate (CHP) with the same core
volume

Zhang Material for the BSP was chopped-basalt-fibre-reinforced polymer [34]

et al. Quasi-static loading at the speed of 1 mm/min
Energy absorption of the BSP was four times higher than that of CHP with the same core thickness

Zhang Material for BSP was metal [95]

et al. Energy absorption of BSP was 386% greater than that of CHP with the same thickness of the core

Zhang Considered the method of formation [93]

et al. BSPs increased compressive strength by approximately 50% and doubled the energy absorption capacity of
honeycomb plates with the same weight

Chen et al. Circular tubes were placed at the middle of each wall of the BSPs. [99]
(continued on next page)

16
 The compressive strength and SEA of the BSPs exceeded those of the honeycomb plate by factors of 2.2 and 3.3
N.S. Ha and G. Lu respectively Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Table 2 (continued )
Authors Geometry Highlight results Ref.

Chen et al. Material was DSM Somos 14120 resin [96]

Quasi-static loading at the speed of 1 mm/min
When the trabecular number in a hexagonal unit of the honeycomb increased, SEA of BSP increased

Hao and Poles could absorb impact energy by its deformation. [100]
Du The deformation of the BSP could reduce by 14% when the poles were used

Cai et al. Aluminium honeycomb was used as the core of the BSP. The top and bottom plates of the BSP were formed by [97]
single CFRPs
BSP was superior to single CFRP, with lower peak force, higher energy absorption, and deformation.

Meng 3D printing sandwich panel [98]

et al. Compressive strength and specific volume energy absorption were 84.30 MPa and 101.30 MJ/m3 respectively

provide protection against penetration while preserving flexibility. The
indentation and bending tests on bio-inspired 3D-printed samples
showed that penetration resistance could be amplified by a factor of 40,
while flexibility decreased in less than 5 times. Martini and Barthelat
[149] combined laser engraving and a stretch-and-release method to
fabricate a fish scale-like flexible armour. Compared to a continuous
layer of uniform ceramic, the proposed fish-scale like armour is not only
more flexible, but it is also more resistant to puncture and more damage
tolerant. The proposed armour was about 10 times more puncture
resistant than soft elastomers, making it a very attractive alternative to
traditional protective equipment.
Crocodiles have evolved flexible armoured skins in the form of hard
scales or osteoderms, which can be described as hard plates of finite size
embedded in softer tissues. The hard segments play the protection role
while the relative motion of these segments provides the flexibility
required for their locomotion. Chintapalli et al. [152] implemented this
concept in a bio-inspired segmented armour that was fabricated using
laser engraving. The proposed bio-inspired segmented glass exhibited an
increase in puncture resistance of up to 70% compared to a continuous
plate of glass of the same thickness. Miranda et al. [153] developed a
finite element model to analyse the effect of scale geometry and other
impact parameters on the ballistic protection performance of bio­
inspired segmented ceramic armours. It is found that segmentation
drastically reduces the size of the damaged area without significantly

17
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 17. (A) Turtle-inspired sandwich structure [101]; (B) bio-inspired double-sine corrugated (DSC) sandwich structure mimicking the peacock mantis shrimp
[102]; (C) structures similar to that proposed in (B) [103]; (D) bio-inspired sandwich structure mimicking woodpecker’s head structure [104]; (E) corrugated
honeycomb mimicking the microstructures of woodpecker’s beak [106]; (F) balanus-inspired sandwich [107]; (G) bio-inspired sandwich structure mimicking
Palmetto wood [108]; (H) leaf-inspired sandwich [109].

18
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

reducing the ballistic protection in the centred impact. Recently, Mir­

khalaf et al. [154–156] proposed new topologically interlocked mate­
rials (TIMs) without the interlayer mortar mimicking interlocking
mechanisms from Alligator gar for impact applications, as shown in
Fig. 21H. They reported that the TIMs were typically 10 times more
impact resistant than their monolithic form. Using differrent inter­
locking stragegies, Mirkhalaf et al. [37] introduced jigsaw-like in­
terfaces, infiltrated with polyurethane, into the glass using a laser
engraving technique. They demonstrated that the bio-inspired glass
significantly enhanced energy dissipation and toughness. Most recently,
Yin et al. [157] presented a new laminated glass that contained tough­
ening cross-ply architectures mimicking fish scales and arthropod cuti­
cles, as shown in Fig. 21I. The new bio-inspired laminated glass was 50
times tougher in energy terms compared with the plain glass.

3.2.4. Other bio-inspired plates

Fig. 18. (a) SEA of bio-inspired sandwich structures; (b) Increase in the per­
formance of bio-inspired structures compared to CS. In this figure, SEA per unit
volume, maximum displacement, and SEA were used to evaluate the perfor­
mance of the sandwich.*density value assumed due to the lack of density data
in the reference.
a
SEAv, bmaximum displacement,
c
SEA, dimpact resistance efficiency. e[104]Impact resistance efficiency.
Besides nacre and fish, many bio-inspired plates have been investi­
gated mimicking other species such as babassu nut [158], green coconut
[159], and turtle [160–162]. Achrai et al. [160] synthesised sub­
strate/coating analogs inspired by the carapace structure of turtle to
enhance energy absorption under impact loading. Zhu et al. [161] and
Yu et al. [162] fabricated a bio-inspired composite of Ti-intermetallic
multi-layered/SiCf-reinforced Ti-matrix mimicking the fibre re­
inforcements of the dorsal cortex in turtle shell through vacuum
hot-pressing sintering. They reported that the Ti-intermetallic multi-­
layered composite showed greater fracture toughness and absorbed
more energy than continuous-SiCf-reinforced Ti-matrix composite.
Recently, Huang et al. [32] numerically, analytically and experi­
mentally investigated bone-inspired armour protective plate for
reducing projectile penetration and alleviating ballistic shock at both
low and high frequencies. They demonstrated that the bone-inspired
armour protective plate had excellent capability for the ballistic shock
mitigation and significant reductions in penetration and load trans­
mission under ballistic loading conditions. Jia et al. [163,164] compared
the impact performance of recent bio-inspired plates with layer,
brick-and-mortar, concentric hexagonal, cross-lamellar, and rotating
plywood microstructures using a multi-material 3D printer, mimicking
sea sponge, nacre, bone osteon, conch shell, and stomatopod dactyl club,
respectively, as shown in Fig. 22A. The deformations of these plates are
illustrated in Fig. 22B. By calculating the absorbed energy, Jia [163,164]
revealed that the layer structure had the highest dissipation and critical

Fig. 19. Bio-inspired composite laminate. (A) Helicoidal structures mimicking beetle elytron and crab [115], (B) Bio-inspired composite laminate [35].

19
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Table 3
Summary of helicoidal structures.
Authors Layup structures Result highlight Refs

Archipatbut [180 /170 / … /20 /10 /(0 )2]s

� � � � �
Specimens were evaluated under the tensile test, circular plate test and impact test [113,
et al. The impact test showed the highest penetration resistance. The reason was that the different fibre 114]
Ravi-chandar orientations prevented continuous matrix cracking and link-up, therefore dissipating energy in
every fibre direction
Cheng et al. [0/ 45� /45� /90� ]3s Specimens were evaluated under the three points bending test [115]
[0/7.8� / … /180� ] Improvement in mechanical performance was more significant when a smaller fibre rotation was
[0/16.4� / … /180� ]s used, such as [0/7.8� / … /180� ] and [0/7.8� / … /85.8� ]s structures.
[0/7.8� / … /85.8� ]s
Grunenfelder [0� ]48 The material was carbon fibre epoxy prepreg with a unidirectional reinforcement (HexTow® IM7, [35]
et al. [0� /�45� /90� ]6s Hexcel, USA)
[0� /7.8� / … /180� ]s Specimens were evaluated under the impact test
[0� /16.3� / … /180� ]2s The results indicated that a smaller rotation angle resulted in a reduction in impact damage
[0� /25.7� / … /180� ]3s
Shang et al. [(0� /90� )5/0� ] The material was unidirectional T700/2510 carbon-epoxy prepreg (CU-075, CGT International, [117]
[(0� /90� )9/0� ] Singapore)
[0� / 18� /…/ 180� ] The specimens were evaluated under the indentation test
[0� / 10� /…/ 180� ] The specimen with [0� / 10� /…/ 180� ] lay-up structure showed less damage than the other
structures
Ginzburg et al. [0� /90� ]8s The material used for the plate was unidirectional carbon fibre epoxy prepreg T800/M21 (Hexcel®) [116]
[þ45� / 45� /0� /90� ]4s Specimens were evaluated under the impact test
[0� /6� /12� /18� / … /180� ]
[0� /12� /24� /36� / … /180� ]s
[0� /12� /24� /36� / … /360� ]
Hazzard et al. [(0� /90� )2]8 The material used for the plate was HB25 (angle cross-ply [0� /90� ] layup) and HB26 (2 cross plies [118]
[0� /90� ]16 [0� /90� ]2) Dyneema® pre-preg materials
[(0� /90� )2/(�45� )2]4 The specimens were evaluated under the impact test
[(0� /90� )/(22.5� / 67.5� )/(45� / 45� )/
(67.5� / 22.5� )]4
[(0� /90� )/(11.25� / 78.75� )/(22.5� /
67.5� ) … (78.75� / 11.25� )]2
[(0� /90� )/(5.625� / 84.375� ) …
(84.375� / 5.625� )]1
Karthi et al. [0� ]48 HB26 (2 cross plies [0� /90� ]2) [119]
[0� /90� ]24 The 0� /90� - helicoid ([(0� /90� )2/(15� / 75� )2/ … /( 15� /75� )2]) lay-up is optimised for pene­
[0� /3.75� /7.5� … /176.25� ] tration resistance
[(0� /90� )2/(15� / 75� )2/ … /( 15� /
75� )2]
Abir et al. [(0� /90� /45� / 45� )9/0� ] High strain rate loadings (120–160 m/s) [122]
[(0� /90� )18/0] The helicoidal architecture results in an 8% and 15% im-provement of the ballistic performance over
[0� / 5� / 10� / … / 180� ] cross-ply and quasi-iso-tropic laminates respectively
Jiang et al. Non-linear rotation angle based layups HR and HE layups with large rotation angles can improve the capacity of impact resistance. [121]
Helicoidal-recursive (HR)
Helicoidal-exponential (HE)
Helicoidal-semicircular (HS)

energy (Fig. 22C), but had a relatively long response time and low
stiffness.
4. Bio-inspired cellular structures
4.1. Honeycombs
The conventional honeycomb has been widely used in energy ab­
sorption applications [165,166]. In this review, we focus on honey­
combs with special geometries that mimic from nature, such as
horseshoe honeycomb, hierarchical honeycomb, pomelo and spider
honeycomb. Yang et al. [167] introduced a series of novel bio-inspired
aluminium honeycombs consisting of horseshoe mesostructure to
improve energy absorption capacity, as shown in Fig. 23A. The con­
struction of the proposed honeycomb was based on triangular honey­
comb, square honeycomb, hexagonal honeycomb and kagome
honeycomb. The numerical results demonstrated that adding the
horseshoe mesostructure to the regular honeycombs could increase the
plateau force and SEA considerably compared with the traditional
honeycomb structure. Meanwhile, Ma et al. [168] investigated
bio-inspired honeycombs constructed with a horseshoe mesostructure
under lateral loading. They also proposed a theoretical model to predict
the behaviour of the bio-inspired honeycomb based on a finite
deformation constitutive relation of the horseshoe microstructure and
analyses of equilibrium and deformation compatibility in the periodical
lattices. Hu et al. [169] numerically and experimentally investigated a
2D honeycomb hexagon model and a 2D cuttlefish model. The
bio-inspired graded honeycomb structures mimicking the structural
characteristics of the hoof [170].
Some researchers have been interested in hierarchical honeycomb
mimicking grass stems [171–173]. Qiao and Chen [174] analytically
investigated the crushing behaviour of a second-order hierarchical
honeycomb where the cell walls consisted of an equilateral triangle
honeycomb. Their results showed that the collapsed stress of the hier­
archical honeycomb was superior to that of hexagonal and triangle
honeycombs. Two years later, Chen et al. [175] experimentally studied
the hierarchical honeycomb proposed by Qiao and Chen [174] with the
fourth-level of the hierarchy. In the different study, Sun et al. [173]
constructed hierarchical structures at the intersection of the honeycomb
walls and found that the SEAs of the first and the second-order hierar­
chies were improved by 81.3% and 185.7%, respectively, when the
honeycombs were subjected to an axial load. Taking further the research
of Sun et al. [173], Fang et al. [176] experimentally and analytically
investigated hierarchical honeycombs to understand their energy ab­
sorption characteristics, as shown in Fig. 23B. Yin et al. [177] presented
a system of bio-inspired hierarchical honeycomb structures based on

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 20. Bio-inspired composite plate; (A) nacre-inspired plate [124]; (B) nacre-inspired plate [125]; (C) nacre-inspired plate [128]; (D) nacre-inspired plate [130];
(E) nacre-inspired plate [131]; (F) nacre-inspired plate [134]; (G) conch shell-inspired plate [135]; (H) staggered composite plates [138].

hexagonal, Kagome, and triangular tessellations. Their numerical
simulation results showed that the performance of the triangular hier­
archical honeycomb was superior to that of the other two hierarchical
honeycombs, and featuring more than twice the energy absorbed by the
regular honeycomb under similar loading conditions. Chen et al. [178,
179] analytically studied the in-plane elastic buckling of bio-inspired
honeycomb materials with hierarchical architecture. Their results indi­
cated the possibility of tailoring the elastic buckling properties at each
hierarchical level, and could thus have interesting applications, such as
the design multi-scale energy-absorptive honeycomb materials. Besides
the hierarchical structures of grass, the hierarchical structures of
spider-webs have also received much interest [180] (Fig. 23C). Most
recently, bio-inspired honeycomb mimicking the hierarchical structures
of pomelo was proposed with improved energy absorption for both axial
and lateral loading, as shown in Fig. 23D [181].
The energy absorption of bio-inspired honeycombs was compared
with that of cellular materials (aluminium light foam, aluminium Poros
foam and Cymat foam) and the theoretical upper bound of tubes as
shown in Fig. 24. It can be seen that the SEAs of the bio-inspired hon­
eycombs are higher than most of the metallic foams, especially when
compared with Cymat foams at similar plateau stress or Al-Poras foams
at similar plateau stress. Moreover, the SEAs are even superior to the
predicted upper bound of the tube which represents the upper bound of
the SEA of the tubal structures under axial crushing.

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 21. (A) Bio-inspired ceramic-composite panel [142]; (B) Overlapped structure mimicking fish skin [144]; (C) 3D-printed fish scale composite [150]; (D)
3D-printed model of overlapping scales [145]; (E) Multi-material 3D-printed model of hard scales embedded in a soft substrate [143]; (F) 3D-printed models of two
segmented bony plates [151]; (G) Bio-inspired additive manufactured stab-resistant armour [146] (H) Topologically interlocked materials [155]; Bio-inspired glass
structure with the cross-ply architectures [157].

4.2. Foams
An and Fan [182] investigated the behaviour of luffa-sponge-like
hierarchical foam cylindrical structures, as shown in Fig. 25A. They
demonstrated that the SEA of the bio-inspired foam was greatly
improved compared with that of pure aluminium foam cylinder due to
the interaction between the CFRP tube and the aluminium foam. The
concept of this bio-inspired foam was similar to the foam reinforced by
cylindrical tubes that were heavily studied in the literature, as shown in
Fig. 25B and C [183–188]. Fig. 26 shows the comparison of the energy
absorption capacity of tube-reinforced foams with different structures
from tests of a wide range of core systems, including corrugated-cores,
aluminium foam, honeycombs, foldcore designs, as well as truss and
lattices structures. It is evident from Fig. 26 that the reinforced foams
exhibit the highest SEA compared with these other structures.
Besides tube-reinforced foams, bio-inspired metal foams have also
been studied. Bührig-Polaczek et al. [20] and Seidel et al. [189]
mimicked the structural hierarchies that were important for the

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 22. Comparison of recent bio-inspired structures. (A) Bio-inspired plates with layer, brick-and-mortar, concentric hexagonal, cross-lamellar, and rotating
plywood microstructures; (B) Deformations of the bio-inspired plates under impact loading; (C) Absorbed energy (Eab) of the bio-inspired plates [164].
mechanical deformation and failure behaviour of the pomelo fruit
(Citrus maxima) and macadamia (integrifolia) in the design of
bio-inspired metal foams, as shown in Fig. 27A. In another study,
Nakajima et al. [190] fabricated and measured the mechanical proper­
ties of lotus-type porous metals whose the cylindrical pores were aligned
in one direction, fabricated by unidirectional solidification in a pres­
surised gas atmosphere, as shown in Fig. 27B. They indicated that the
lotus-type porous metals were excellent candidates for use in energy
absorption application. The quasi-static and dynamic behaviour of
lotus-type porous metals were studied by Tane et al. [191]. In another
study, Li et al. [192,193] investigated the energy absorption of
lotus-type porous coppers in the perpendicular direction at high strain
rates. The SEA and energy absorption efficiency were calculated to be
4–16 kJ/kg and 0.32–0.7, respectively. By mimicking the structure of
the box turtle shell (Terrapene carolina), Rhee et al. [194] fabricated
various aluminium foams for impact resistance application, as shown in
Fig. 27C. Using another method, Yin et al. [195] proposed nickel-plated
luffa sponges using electrochemical deposition method, as shown in
Fig. 27D. They indicated that the energy absorption capacity of
nickel-plated luffa sponges was far superior to that in other comparable
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materials. Li et al. [196] proposed bioinspired foam composites
mimicking pomelo peel. The foams were prepared by one-step foaming
and a combination of different fabric structures. The results indicated
that the bio-inspired composites have superior functions due to the
reinforcement of nylon fabric as well as high stiffness and energy ab­
sorption of polyurethane-based small-mesh-size spacer fabrics. Inspired
by bone structures, Yi et al. [197] proposed a density tailoring method
on the foam filler to further improve the energy absorption of the
composite structure, as shown in Fig. 27E. The bio-inspired graded
foam-filled tubes exhibited up to 24% higher SEA than the equal-weight
uniform foam-filled tubes in FE simulations.
Fig. 28 shows comparisons between bio-inspired metal foams and
conventional metal foams (CMFs) in terms of SEA and Ed. It is evident
that the Ed of the pomelo-inspired metal foam is slightly higher than that
of the CMFs, while the SEA is similar. For the turtle-inspired metal foam,
the Ed is slightly higher than that of the CMFs under the high strain rate
condition. The lotus-type porous irons and carbon steels show higher
energy absorption capability compared with that of the CMFs.
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 23. Bio-inspired honeycomb. (A) Horseshoe honeycomb [167]; (B) Hierarchical honeycomb [176]; (C) Spider-web, (B1) first-order spider-web honeycomb, (B2)
Second-order spider-web honeycomb [180], (D) Pomelo peel-inspired honeycomb [181].

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 24. Comparison of bio-inspired honeycomb with metal foams and
tube structures.
4.3. Lattice structures
Olsson et al. [198] were inspired by plant cell structures to design
three kinds of bio-inspired lattice structures: tetrahedron bio-inspired
structure, pyramid bio-inspired structure and cellulose bio-inspired
structure, as shown in Fig. 29A. These structures were theoretically
optimised to absorb as much energy as possible during impact mean­
while keeping the mass low. The SEAs of optimised structures were
21.09, 20.94 and 25.34 kg/kJ for the tetrahedron structure, pyramid
structure and cellulose structure, respectively. Plessis et al. [199]
investigated the osteoderms of Glyptotherium arizonae in which body
armour evolved as protection against predators, as shown in Fig. 29B.
Experimental and numerical results showed that the combination of
dense compact layers and porous lattice core might provide an
Fig. 25. (A) Bio-inspired foam mimicking luffa structures [182]; (B) Aluminium tube reinforced foam [184]; (C) Composite tube reinforced foam [185].
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optimised combination of strength and high energy absorption. In
another study, Han et al. [200] proposed two novel nature-inspired
auxetic material with ultrahigh strength and ductility mimicking the
crystal structures of two natural solids: α-cristobalite and LaNiO3/SrTiO3
superlattice (or ABO3 perovskite), as shown in Fig. 29C. The proposed
materials were fabricated by forming helical wires into a wire-woven
structure and then filling the tetrahedron or octahedron cells with
another solid. They demonstrated that the proposed materials achieved
superior energy absorption capability, ultrahigh strength and ductility,
which are essential for heavy-duty applications. Most recently, Wang
et al. [201] fabricated a series of reticulated shell structure inspired from
the diving bell of the water spiders using selective laser melting additive
manufacturing technology with AlSi10Mg powder, as shown in Fig. 29D.
The effect of the strut diameter of the shell structures on their energy
absorption capacity was investigated. Using hierarchical strategy,
bio-inspired lattices were fabricated [202,203], as shown in Fig. 29E.
The results indicated that the energy absorption of the lattices increased
with hierarchical order. Moreover, the higher hierarchical order of lat­
tice showed higher failure strain and the first order hierarchical lattice
show small failure strain.
To increase the failure strain of the lattices, Mueller et al. [204–206]
applied a biomimetic concept using coaxially aligned layers design for
the struts of lattice, as shown in Fig. 30. With this concept, the interfaces
between inner and outer layers prevent crack propagation, hence
increasing the energy required for complete rupture of the lattice. The
experimental results showed that the fracture strain and toughness could
be increased by over 100%, when compared to conventional reference
struts, while fully maintaining the density, stiffness, and strength, as
shown in Fig. 30.
5. Bio-inspired structures for civil engineering
The biomimetic approach has also been applied in civil engineering
N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 26. Comparison of SEA of various core structures.
for the development of bio-inspired materials and structures with high
impact resistance and toughness. Sun et al. [207] studied the impact
response of building ceramic composite with a nacre-like structure to
drop-weight tests, as shown in Fig. 31A. Experimental results indicated
that this ceramic composite showed significant improvement in impact
resistance compared with the simple layered ceramic composite con­
sisting of nonpartitioned tile layers [207]. The impact resistance of
multilayer cement-based composites has been studied in recent years
[30,208–212]. It was stated that the multi-layer cement-based com­
posites demonstrated better performance against high-velocity impact
than that of monoblock cement-based materials. Sun et al. [213]
reviewed nacre-inspired structures and materials for impact resistance
applications in civil engineering and also discussed the possible tough­
ness designs of cement-based and clay-based composite materials with a
layered and staggered structure. The structure proposed in Fig. 31B is
one of the solutions for the resistance of concrete walls to ballistic
impact.
Djumas et al. [214] proposed an alternative geometry for hard
building blocks, introducing a topological interlocking mechanism for
osteomorphic brick mimicking nacre microstructure to improve the
mechanical properties. The bricks had specially engineered geometries
with two curved side surfaces for interlocking purposes. Javan et al.
[215] conducted drop-weight tests to investigate the mechanical
response of new interlocking assembly plates. The brick used in the plate
had a symmetrical geometry with four curved side surfaces that differed
from the brick proposed by Djumas [214], as shown in Fig. 31C.
Experimental results showed that the new interlocking assembly plates
with four curved side surfaces of the brick had significantly improved
flexural performance compared with that of monolithic plates in terms
of impact energy absorption capacity. Later, Javan et al. [216] proposed
a 3D finite element model to validate the experimental results for the
impact behaviour of plate-like assemblies made of interlocking concrete
bricks. Djumas et al. [217] applied the idea of the hierarchical structure
to topologically interlocked assemblies, obtained from measurements
under point loading, undertaken on identical discrete block ensembles
with matching non-planar surfaces. It was demonstrated that imposing a
hierarchical structure added to the load-bearing capacity of topological
interlocking assemblies. A framework for the design process of structural
systems based on the notion of topological interlocking and a review of
the concept of topological interlocking can be found in Weizmamn et al.
[218], Estrin et al. [219], respectively.
Besides the interlocking concrete, the functionally graded concrete
was also received much interests from some researchers. Toader et al.
[36] fabricated functionally graded concrete (FGC) mimicking the
structure of sea urchin spines, using a layer-by-layer technique with
casting and dry spraying procedures, as shown in Fig. 31D. The FGC with
multi-layers of different porosities provided superior deformability
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capacity under compression loading compared to specimens without
functional grading. Besides, the FGC specimens experienced “graceful”
failure behaviour, absorbing high amounts of energy during extended
compression paths. A summary of FGC can be found in Klang et al.
[220]. Shao et al. [221] proposed a novel bio-inspired concrete structure
with a staggered arrangement of steel wire mesh to improve the ballistic
performance of conventional concrete structures, as shown in Fig. 31E.
Recently, hierarchical design and additive manufacturing (AM) of
cement-based materials have received much interests. However, the
brittle behaviour of these materials and the presence of interfaces from
the AM process are currently critical issues. To eliminate the interfaces
in 3D-printed hardened cement paste (hcp) elements, Moini et al. [222]
relied on harnessing the heterogeneous interfaces by employing novel
architectures mimicking Bouligand structures, as shown in Fig. 31F
[222]. The proposed architectures were found to generate unique
damage mechanisms, which increased the toughness and energy ab­
sorption capacity compared with the conventional cast specimens.
6. Other structures
Besides the aforementioned bio-inspired structures, some special bio-
inspired structures and materials have been proposed. Mahdi et al. [223]
introduced the date palm leaf fibre (DPLF) as a possible natural fibre
candidate to fabricate energy absorber for automotive applications, as
shown in Fig. 32A. The experimental results showed that the SEA of the
DPLF unidirectional reinforced epoxy composites rectangular tube
under axial loading was 10.3 kJ/kg, demonstrating the proposed tube to
be a good candidate as eco-friendly materials for automotive applica­
tion. Arjangpay et al. [224,225] imitated wing veins of a dragonfly to
improve the impact resistance of E-glass/epoxy skins, consisting of
E-glass/epoxy faces bonded to a polyurethane foam core and a cylin­
drical shell, as shown in Fig. 32B. The veins of dragonfly and other in­
sects are specialised for particular types of mechanical loads, such as
bending and torsion [226–235], resulting in a good candidate for
designing energy absorbers. Using drop impact tests, Arjangpay et al.
[224,225] reported that the E-glass/epoxy skins with bio-inspired veins
limited the damage propagation.
Presser et al. [236] applied the constructional concepts of sea urchin
spines for graded porous alumina ceramic. A high level of porosity
(>30 vol%) was identified as the important element for graceful failure
in polycrystalline alumina and graded porosity; thus, layers of higher
and lower density could significantly improve the impact resistance.
Unlike most fish, the seahorse tail is composed of subdermal bony plates
arranged in articulating ring-like segments that overlap for controlled
ventral bending and twisting. The bony plates are highly deformable
materials designed to slide pastone another and buckle when com­
pressed [237]. With this unusual deformation mechanisms, seahorse tail
played a protective role against predators. Mimicking the seashore tail
structures, Porter et al. [238] fabricated two bio-inspired tail prototypes
to elucidate why the seashore tail is square, as shown in Fig. 33A. Un­
derstanding the role of mechanics in these prototypes may help engi­
neers to develop future seahorse-inspired technologies that mimic the
armoured functions of the natural appendage for defence applications.
Inspired by the chiral nature of double-helical structure of DNA mole­
cule, Zheng et al. [239] and Hu et al. [240] designed and fabricated
DNA-inspired double helical metamaterials (DDHMs) for energy ab­
sorption, as shown in Fig. 33B. The quasi-static tests revealed that in­
terlinks between two intertwined helices of the DDHMs were decisive to
the compression-twisting coupling deformation mode [239] while the
low-speed impact tests demonstrated the exellent recoverability and
mitigation capability of the DDHMs [240].
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 27. Bio-inspired metal foam. (A) Pomelo-inspired metal foam [20], (B) Lotus-inspired metal foam [191], (C) Turtle-inspired aluminium foam [194]; (D)
Nickel-plated luffa sponges [195]; (E) Inspired by the biological mechanism of adaptive remodeling in bone [197].

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 28. Energy absorption efficiency–energy absorption capability map for
lotus-type porous materials and metal foams [193], turtle-inspired foam [194],
pomelo-inspired foam [20]. The energy absorption efficiency is set at a strain of
0.55 for the lotus-type porous copper, 0.5 strain for metal materials and
pomelo-inspired foam and 0.3 strain for turtle-inspired foam (due to the limi­
tation of the data in Ref. [194]).
7. Manufacturing methods
7.1. Conventional manufacturing method
Conventional manufacturing methods, such as lathe machining [33],
deep drawing process [87], molding [102], laser cutting/engraving [37,
154–156], precise casting process [18,241] and the wire electrical
discharge machining technique [75] are commonly used to fabricate
bio-inspired structures with simple configurations such as functional
graded thickness tubes [33], bio-inspired conical tubes [87],
bio-inspired corrugated core sandwich panels [242]. The conventional
manufacturing methods are effective to fabricate bio-inspired structures
with a simple configuration. However, it is challenging for such methods
to fabricate complex configurations such as bio-inspired bi-directionally
corrugated core sandwich panels [242]. Therefore, other manufacturing
method must be proposed to replace conventional ones. Additive
manufacturing (3D printing) is an effective method for the fabrication of
bio-inspired structures because it facilitates the manufacture of a wide
range of materials and structures.
7.2. Additive manufacturing
Bio-inspired structures have been fabricated using 3D-printing
technology based on stereolithography (SLA) [90], inkjet printing [134,
135], selective laser sintering [243], selective laser melting [31,33],. In
SLA, a computer-controlled moving laser beam is used to build up the 3D
structure by tracing, layer-by-layer, the shape of the object, focusing on
a vat filled with a photosensitive liquid polymer that hardens on contact
with laser light. The main limitation of this technique is that it is difficult
to create objects precisely, due to the post-curing shrinkage of the
material.
Although 3D-printing is a powerful method fabricating a complex
structure, it has some intrinsic limitations such as building speed, post-
curing shrinkage (for polymer printing), the sintering process (for metal
printing), the need for supporting materials, and the limited range of
materials that can be printed [244]. Further information on 3D-printing
for bio-inspired structures can be found in review papers [244–248].
7.3. Lamination
Lamination is a common, widely used manufacturing technique for
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fabricating fibre-reinforced composite materials. Lamination is also
utilised for bio-inspired composite plates, especially helicoidal com­
posite plates [35,113,114,116,117,249]. The advantage of lamination is
that it is easy to implement. However, the results of such fabrication are
highly dependent on the ability of the technician, because it is done
manually. The process generally involves fibre lay-up, resin injection
and the curing process. Detailed information about the process can be
found in the review paper [244]. Lamination is widely used to produce
composite laminates for the automotive and aerospace industries.
Designed for the manufacture of large-scale components, lamination has
limitations to achieving a high resolution at smaller scales and to
implementing small-scale features in hierarchical composites.
7.4. Other manufacturing techniques
Besides the conventional, 3D printing and lamination techniques,
other advanced manufacturing techniques have been employed to
fabricate bio-inspired structures such as magnetically assisted slip
casting [250], hot press assisted slip casting [251], ice templating
method [252–254], etc. The detailed nano/micro-manufacturing of
bioinspired materials and structures can be found in the review paper
[255].
8. Challenges and future directions
Through reviewing a large number of studies, bio-inspired structures
were found to provide outstanding energy absorption capacity
compared with CS. However, no standard paradigm has been developed
for designing such structures. The key challenges in the design of bio-
inspired structures for energy absorption are:
It is difficult to find a natural structure that has the desired protective
function with the desired geometrical configuration matching the
designed absorbers. In fact, there are many straight bio-inspired
structures [28,33,51,52,54–56,62,188], whereas only a few
bio-inspired tapered tubes have been presented in the literature [86].
This is due to the rarity of tapered structures in nature.
It is difficult to select appropriate design ideas from natural struc­
tures for energy absorption purposes because they have many spe­
cific geometrical features for multiple functions. For instance,
Akbulut et al. [86] proposed a balanus-inspired conical structure that
consisted of an inner conical core structure and an outer shell frusta
structure. However, the cross-section of balanus showed that the wall
of the balanus was a multi-cell structure. Therefore, the engineering
realisation of the balanus structures as a double-wall structure was
not appropriate, resulting in lower SEA in the bio-inspired tapered
tube [86].
To design an excellent bio-inspired structure for energy absorption, a
biomimetic design concept, Biomimicry Design Spiral, proposed by
Biomimicry Institute is used [256], as shown in Fig. 34. The first step is
to identify the functions of energy absorbers that we want to design, e.g.
the energy absorption, high toughness or high blast resistance. These
functions are then translated into words or terms that make sense in the
biological worlds, for example, energy absorption translates to energy
absorption, blast loading translates to smash loading in biology. The
next step is to discover the biological strategies or mechanisms from
biological structures that have those functions in step 2 such as heli­
coidal structures in the mantis shrimp club for smash loading [257–259]
(This is the unique step in biomimicry). In the abstract step, the bio­
logical strategies or mechanisms are described in terminology appro­
priate to our design profession. In the emulate step, we then develop
one or more design concepts based on these strategies eg. helicoidal
composite structures [35], or corrugated core for sandwich structures
[103]. The last step is to evaluate the design concepts using the nu­
merical, experimental and theoretical methods and the obtained results
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 29. (A) bio-inspired lattice mimicking plant cell structures (a) plant cell structures, (b) tetrahedron structure, (c) pyramid structure, (d) cellulose structure
[198]; (B) Osteoderms of Glyptotherium arizonae and Von Mises stress of bio-inspired structure under impact loading [199]; (C) Nature-mimicking auxetic materials
[200]; (D) Bio-inspired reticulated shell structure mimicking the diving bell of the water spiders [201]; (E) Bio-inspired hierarchical lattices [202].

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 30. Bio-inspired lattice using coaxially aligned layers concept. A) tilted view of the entire lattice; B) closer view of printed struts; C) cross-sectional view of the
lattice composed of core-interface-shell (C–I–S) struts [scale bar ¼ 1 mm]; D) higher magnification images of struts; E) Optical images of a C–I–S lattice under
different compression tests; F) stress–strain curves for the previously shown C–I–S lattice compared with lattices composed of brittle epoxy, flexible epoxy, and C–S
struts, as shown in (D). G) The interfacial layer stops crack propagation through the strut cores (false-colored blue), causing the shell to fracture into many pieces
[205]. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

are compared to the initial design goals. The Biomimicry Design Spiral
was discussed in Refs. [260,261].
As presented above, the Discover step is the most important in the
biomimicry. The biological strategies and mechanisms of biological
structures that support their survival and success should be investigated.
Therefore, the demand for a database of biological strategies for
designing bio-inspired structures is imperative. As a result, we devel­
oped a database for designing bio-inspired structures for energy ab­
sorption as illustrated in Table 4. This table provides an overview of
biological structures as well as bio-inspired structures for energy ab­
sorption. It can be seen that some mechanisms of biological materials
have not yet been investigated for energy absorption. Consequently,
structures designed on the basis of these mechanisms can be considered
as future directions and are presented below:
It was shown in this review that bio-inspired tubes mimicking
bamboo structures exhibited excellent energy absorption under axial
loading [33]. However, these tubes mimicked only the vascular
bundle and node structures of the bamboo. Bulkheads, which is an
effective way to improve the energy absorption of multi-corner tubes
[77], was not considered. Therefore, the introduction of the bulk­
heads into bamboo-inspired tubes may enhance the energy absorp­
tion capacity. Moreover, most of the bamboo-inspired tubes in this
review were conducted under axial loading and bending loading. In
nature, the bamboo efficiently undergoes oblique loading. Therefore,
it is recommended that more attention should be directed to inves­
tigating the behaviour of bamboo-inspired tubes under oblique
loading.
In the case of horsetail, it is clear that the multi-cell features of the
horsetail have been mimicked to fabricated the bio-inspired struc­
tures. However, the nodes of horsetail are also unique features that
can be imitated for bio-inspired structures. As in bamboo, the nodes
may contribute to improving energy absorption.
Fig. 11B shows tendon and bio-inspired structures with seven packed
circular tubes. Basically, the nested circular tubes that have been
proposed in recent years present a simple case of tendon structures
with two packed circular tubes and the hierarchical level of 1 [41,
262–265]. Therefore, investigation of the effect of numbers of cir­
cular tubes packed in the tube on the collapse shapes and energy
absorption characteristics could be a very promising topic for future
research.
Another possible research topic concerns the gradient density in the
foam of the lotus stem. Most of the cited lotus-like metal foams in this
review focused on the uniform density of the foam. Recently, the
gradient graded layer foam has shown significant improvement in
energy absorption. Therefore, inspired derived from the gradient
density of lotus foam may improve the energy absorption of the
current foam.

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 31. Bio-inspired structures for civil engineering; (A) building ceramic composite with a nacre-like structure [207]; (B) bricked-wall structure [213]; (C)
interlocking concrete mimicking nacre structure [215]; (D) FGC mimicking the structure of sea urchin spines [36]; (E) concrete structure with staggered arrangement
of steel wire mesh [221]; (F) Bio-inspired 3D printing concrete [222].

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N.S. Ha and G. Lu
Fig. 32. (A) DPLF unidirectional reinforced epoxy composites rectangular tube [223]; (B) composite structures mimicking wing veins of dragonfly [224].
McKittrick et al. [25] proposed an interesting bio-inspired structure
mimicking the structural gradients of antler, tooth, horn, and hoof
for energy absorption applications. The design consisted of a central
porous core with an impact-resistant polymer containing tubules
oriented perpendicular to the loading direction. The central core
would be made of a material with a higher elastic modulus than the
material chosen for the outer sheath. However, the tubules and
matrix materials comprising the outer sheath would have similar
properties and excellent adhesion.
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The graded foam urchin structure was the inspiration for the design
of graded concrete, as shown in Fig. 31. However, sea urchin struc­
tures are also a concentrically graded foam tube. Therefore, structure
mimicking the concentrically graded foam tubes also warrant future
research.
It should be noted that more research topics than those recom­
mended here could be generated. The authors have proposed directions
based mainly on Table 4. Table 4 can provide ideas for creating excellent
N.S. Ha and G. Lu Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107496

Fig. 33. (A) Seahorse skeletons are composed of highly articulated bony plates and Two tail prototypes of the seahorse [238]; DNA-inspired helical structures and
their deformations during compression tests [239].

advances in the development of bio-inspired structures for energy ab­

sorption applications. In particular, we described the unique features
and remarkable mechanical properties of biological structures such as
plants and animals that can be mimicked to design efficient energy ab­
sorbers. The structural design and energy absorption characteristics of
current bio-inspired structures with different configurations such as
multi-cell tubes, frusta, sandwich panels, composite plates, honey­
combs, foams, building structures, and other specific structures were
reviewed and discussed. The materials are used for bio-inspired struc­
tures, including but not limited to metals, polymers, fibre-reinforced
composites, glass and concrete. We also discussed the manufacturing
techniques of bio-inspired structures, such as cutting machines and
adaptive manufacturing (3D printing). A biomimetic design concept,
Biomimicry Design Spiral, was employed to design an excellent bio-
inspired structure for energy absorption. Overall, the contemporary
challenges and future directions for bio-inspired structures were dis­
cussed. This synopsis provides a useful platform for researchers and
engineers to design novel bio-inspired structures for energy absorption
applications.

Declaration of competing interest

Fig. 34. Biomimicry design spiral [256].
The authors declare the following financial interests/personal re­
structures for energy absorption applications. lationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:
The authors would like to thank the Australian Research Council for
9. Summary the financial support through a Discovery Grant (DP160102612).

This synopsis has provided a comprehensive overview of recent

33
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