Natural suture structures, characterized by hard segments joined along a patterned weak interface, are found to provide unique toughening mechanisms for brittle bulk biological materials. Hierarchical ceramic sutures inspired by white‐tailed deer crania and diabolical ironclad beetle exoskeletons are developed using a biomimetic approach. Overlapping geometries unlock twin energy absorption mechanisms. Ceramics with Surlyn‐infiltrated precision laser‐cuts are fabricated using a semi‐automated and smart advanced manufacturing platform. A parametric study comprising four‐point bending, fracture toughness, and tensile tests is conducted to evaluate toughness, strength, and stiffness with geometrical interlocking in two hierarchical orders. Digital image correlation is utilized to analyze the local toughening mechanisms and failure modes in the fracture tests. For all three metrics, the panels with second‐order hierarchy outperform the anti‐trapezoidal equivalents. The ceramic sutures show up to 590%, 340%, and 700% improvements in energy absorption in the tensile, bending, and fracture tests, respectively, owing to the optimal first‐ and second‐order interlocking angles. The high‐order fractal interlocking at multiple scales and overlapping teeth are found to provide high flexibility and failure resistance, whereas progressive fracture mechanisms delay catastrophic failure by up to 50%. The concept of hierarchical suture can lead to industrially applied ceramic systems with tailored mechanical performances.
Tough and impact-resistant ceramic systems offer a wide range of remarkable opportunities beyond those offered by the conventional brittle ceramics. However, despite their promise, the availability of traditional manufacturing technique for fabricating such advanced ceramic structures in a highly controllable and scalable manner poses a significant manufacturing bottleneck. In this study, a precise and programmable laser manufacturing system was used to manufacture topologically interlocking ceramics. This manufacturing strategy offers feasible mechanisms for a precise material architecture and quantitative process control, particularly when scalability is considered. An optimized material removal method that approaches near-net shaping was employed to fabricate topologically interlocking ceramic systems (load-carrying assemblies of building blocks interacting by contact and friction) with different architectures (i.e., interlocking angles and building block sizes) subjected to low-velocity impact conditions. These impacts were evaluated using 3D digital image correlation. The optimal interlocked ceramics exhibited a higher deformation (up to 310%) than the other interlocked ones advantageous for flexible protections. Their performance was tuned by controlling the interlocking angle and block size, adjusting the frictional sliding, and minimizing damage to the building blocks. In addition, the developed subtractive manufacturing technique leads to the fabrication of tough, impact-resistant, damage-tolerant ceramic systems with excellent versatility and scalability.
Tough and impact-resistant ceramic systems offer a wide range of remarkable opportunities beyond those offered by conventional brittle ceramics. However, despite their promise, the availability of traditional manufacturing techniques to fabricate such advanced ceramic structures in a highly controllable and scalable manner poses a significant manufacturing bottleneck. In this study, a precise and programmable laser manufacturing system was used to manufacture architectured ceramics inspired by biological materials such as bone, nacre and tooth enamel. This manufacturing strategy offers feasible mechanisms for precise material architecture and quantitative process control, particularly when scalability is considered. An optimized material removal method that approaches near-net shaping was employed to fabricate topologically interlocking ceramic systems (load-carrying assemblies of building blocks interacting by contact and friction) with different architectures (i.e., interlocking angle and building block size) subjected to low-velocity impact conditions. These impacts were evaluated using 3D digital image correlation (DIC). The optimal architectured ceramics exhibited a higher deformation (up to 310%) than the others. Their performance was tuned by controlling the interlocking angle and block size, adjusting the frictional sliding, and minimizing damage to the building blocks. The developed subtractive manufacturing technique leads to the fabrication of tough, impact-resistant, damagetolerant ceramic systems with excellent versatility and potential scalability.
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