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Examining the results of millions of years of evolution and applying those learnings
to enhance material properties has a romantic connotation to it. This is precisely the
path that Mingyang Zhang, Ning Zhao & al. decided to follow in their investigation of
bioinspired architecture for material design, aiming to attain enhanced physical
properties.
The team drew inspiration from three members of the animal kingdom for their
investigation. The shell of the sea snail Haliotis Rufescens inspired a brick-and-mortar type
of architecture, while the colorful variety of mantis shrimp, Odontodactylus scyllarus,
provided the design for a twisted plywood architecture. Lastly, the mollusk Saxidomus
purpuratus served as a reference for a cross-lamellar type of architecture.
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How Nature Inspired These Performance-Exceeding Composite Materials
The structures of the representative biological prototypes (sea snail, mantis shrimp, and
clam) are displayed together with the brick-and-mortar, Bouligand, and crossed-lamellar
architectures. Additionally, the bioinspired scaffolds and the infiltrated composites are
shown. Image Credit: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30873-9
By using 3D printing, the team was not only able to build the material “bottom-up” to reflect
what happens in nature, but they could also create a porous scaffold of Ti-6Al-4V suitable
for a pressure-less infiltration of Mg.
After the bioinspired materials were manufactured, the scientists used X-Ray and electron
microscopy (XRT, CT, SEM) to assess the absence of pores in the material.
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How Nature Inspired These Performance-Exceeding Composite Materials
The materials were then scanned with a CT microscope. The findings were transferred to
visualization and image processing software, enabling the team to isolate and analyze the
fractures that had developed within the material. This yielded valuable insights into the
formation of fractures based on the chosen architecture, validating the selection of specific
materials utilized in the manufacturing process
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How Nature Inspired These Performance-Exceeding Composite Materials
reference involved a dense 3D-printed Ti-6Al-4V sample. This comparison highlighted the
superiority of the second material in terms of tensile properties.
The situation flipped when comparing it to a stir-cast Mg alloy reinforced with Ti-6Al-4V to
approximate the chemistry of the bioinspired sample. In this comparison, the bioinspired
sample outperformed in both strength and ductility, with the cross-lamellar architecture
proving superior.
In this study, the fractures were observed using Avizo Software from Thermo Fisher
Scientific, which highlights how the cracks do not propagate in a straight path but rather in-
plane and out-of-plane (crack deflection and crack twist).
SEM images and CT volume renderings of the quasi-static fracture toughness samples for
the composites with bioinspired (a) brick-and-mortar, (b) Bouligand, and (c) crossed-
lamellar architectures. The CT images were processed by filtering out the signals of
constituents and highlighting the cracking regions. The white arrows in (b) indicate the
microcracks ahead of the crack tip. The inset in (c) magnifies the zig-zag cracking path and
the resulted frictional sliding between crack faces, as indicated by the arrows. Image Credit:
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How Nature Inspired These Performance-Exceeding Composite Materials
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30873-9
The team concluded that by mutually partitioning components, the cracking in the weaker
Mg phase could be constrained, thereby delaying the fracture of the entire composite.
These improved mechanical properties have led the researchers to envision potential future
applications for similar bioinspired materials in structural or biomedical fields.
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by
Thermo Fisher Scientific - Software.
For more information on this source, please visit Thermo Fisher Scientific - Software.
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How Nature Inspired These Performance-Exceeding Composite Materials
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