Fish Skin: A Natural Inspiration for Innovation

Cui

Microscopy Res & Technique

2021

Energy efficiency and friction reduction have attracted considerable research attention. To design low drag surfaces, researchers derived inspiration from nature on various types of drag reduction methods with exceptional functional surfaces, such as fish skin that possesses low friction. Fishes with high-performance swimming possess a range of physiological and mechanical adaptations that are of considerable interest to physiologists, ecologists, and engineers. Although tuna is a fast-swimming oceanbased predator, most people focus their attention on its nutritional value. In this study, the multilayered structures and mechanical properties of tuna skin are first analyzed, and then the drag-reduction effect of the bionic fish-scale and dualcomposite surfaces are studied based on the computational fluid dynamics method.The results indicate that tuna skin is composed of five layers, with the fish scale covered by a flexible epidermis layer. According to the uniaxial tension results, the modulus and tensile strength of the epidermis are obtained as 1.17 and 20 MPa, respectively. The nanoindentation results show that the modulus and hardness of the outer surface of the fish scale are larger than that of the inner surface, while those of the dry state are larger than those of the hydrated state. The simulation results show that both the bionic fish-scale and dual-composite surfaces display drag reduction, with the maximum drag-reduction rate of 25.7% achieved by the bionic dualcomposite surface. These findings can offer a reference for in-depth performance analysis of the hydrodynamics of tuna and provide new sources of inspiration for drag reduction and antifouling.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mechanical properties of the fish scales are known to change between the hydrated and dry states (Drelich et al, 2018). Lin, Wei, Olevsky, and Meyers (2011)) investigated the Arapaima scale by conducting a tensile test and found that the values differed significantly between both the states.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dual‐composite drag‐reduction surface based on the multilayered structure and mechanical properties of tuna skin

Cui

Microscopy Res & Technique

2021

Administrative Sciences

“…"One of the critical ingredients of innovation is the source of the idea or inspiration for the innovation" (Bommer and Jalajas 2004, p. 13). Idea generation has been attributed to inspiration both in general (Drucker 1999) and in relation to specific research areas (e.g., Drelich et al 2018;Mead et al 2020). Inspiration exists in new product development and design (Halskov and Dalsgård 2006;Vasconcelos et al 2017;Brun et al 2018) as well as in earlier stages of the innovation process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Artist as Innovation Muse: Findings from a Residence Program in the Fuzzy Front End

Sandberg

2020

In a highly competitive business environment, integrating artists into corporate research and development (R&D) seems to be a promising way to foster inventiveness and idea generation. Given the importance of individual level innovation for product development, this study explores the benefits that employees experience from the artist-in-residence-program at Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany. Qualitative content analysis of interviews with scientists and engineers was performed in order to explore the impact of their encounters with artists in the theoretical framework of the triadic concept and transmission model of inspiration. The findings corroborate the notion that inspiration is a suitable theoretical underpinning for individual benefits of art–science collaborations in the front end of innovation. Scientists and engineers are inspired by the artists’ otherness and transcend their usual modes of perception in favor of enhanced focal, peripheral and bifocal vision. Whereas shifts in perspective are reflected in individual thinking patterns, researchers are hardly motivated to change their work-related behavior. The exchange with artists does not have a concrete impact on technological innovation, because researchers neither integrate impulses into their experiential world nor link them to fields of activity. In the case under scrutiny, artistic impulses do not contribute to idea generation in the sense of front-end activities. The study contributes to research on artists in businesses by illuminating the R&D environment as a hitherto neglected field of activity. While substantiating previous research on artist-in-science-residencies, the results suggest that the potential of such interdisciplinary endeavors is limited.

“…From a materials perspective, characterization studies of various scales have revealed highly intricate microstructures. Such scales can be hybrid 10–12 , hierarchical 13–15 , and composite in nature 16–18 capable of engaging multiple length scales depending on the load 19–21 . Scales are also naturally multifunctional 22–25 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frictional Damping from Biomimetic Scales

Ali

Ebrahimi

Ghosh

2019

Sci Rep

Stiff scales adorn the exterior surfaces of fishes, snakes, and many reptiles. They provide protection from external piercing attacks and control over global deformation behavior to aid locomotion, slithering, and swimming across a wide range of environmental condition. In this report, we investigate the dynamic behavior of biomimetic scale substrates for further understanding the origins of the nonlinearity that involve various aspect of scales interaction, sliding kinematics, interfacial friction, and their combination. Particularly, we study the vibrational characteristics through an analytical model and numerical investigations for the case of a simply supported scale covered beam. Our results reveal for the first time that biomimetic scale beams exhibit viscous damping behavior even when only Coulomb friction is postulated for free vibrations. We anticipate and quantify the anisotropy in the damping behavior with respect to curvature. We also find that unlike static pure bending where friction increases bending stiffness, a corresponding increase in natural frequency for the dynamic case does not arise for simply supported beam. Since both scale geometry, distribution and interfacial properties can be easily tailored, our study indicates a biomimetic strategy to design exceptional synthetic materials with tailorable damping behavior.