Wet or Dry – Hardness, Stiffness and Wear Resistance of Biological Materials on the Micron Scale

Schöberl, Thomas; Jäger, Ingomar

doi:10.1002/adem.200600143

Cited by 47 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This is in good agreement with several previous studies, demonstrating the effect of desiccation on the static and dynamic mechanical properties of cuticle from various insect species (Dirks and Dürr, 2011;Klocke and Schmitz, 2011;Mills and Krolak, 1986;Göpfert and Robert, 2001;Schöberl and Jäger, 2006) and other biological composite materials such as bone, squid beaks or even equine hoof walls (Nyman, 2006;Miserez, 2008;Bertram, 1987).…”

Section: Effect Of Water Content On Mechanical Propertiessupporting

confidence: 93%

“…As our results and those of previous experiments (Klocke and Schmitz, 2011;Schöberl and Jäger, 2006) suggest, small reductions of the water content would increase the stiffness and strength of locust tibia cuticle, potentially providing better protection, and less wear. However, the insect is clearly going to some effort to maintain hydration of its cuticle, which tends to dehydrate very quickly ex vivo, and presumably even faster in the dry environments in which desert locusts normally live.…”

Section: Correlation Of Stiffness Strength and Toughnesssupporting

confidence: 84%

“…Nano-indentation has been frequently used to measure the Young's modulus and hardness of isolated cuticle samples (Klocke and Schmitz, 2011;Schöberl and Jäger, 2006). However, though also used extensively on brittle materials such as engineering ceramics, nano-indentation has also recently been the subject of much criticism (Kruzic et al, 2009).…”

Section: Mechanical Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the past 60years, different insect species and body parts have been tested by engineers and biologists, using various techniques, and it has been shown that the Young's modulus of cuticle can range from less than 1kPa (intersegmental membranes of mature female locusts) to several GPa (tendons) (Vincent and Wegst, 2004). It has also been shown experimentally that variations of the cuticle's fibre alignment, water content and controlled 'tanning' of the material affect the cuticle's static mechanical properties, such as stiffness and hardness, and dynamic mechanical properties, such as damping, over several orders of magnitude (Müller et al, 2008;Klocke and Schmitz, 2011;Dirks and Dürr, 2011;Schöberl and Jäger, 2006;Göpfert and Robert, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fracture toughness of locust cuticle

Dirks

Taylor

2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

124

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SUMMARYInsect cuticle is one of the most common biological materials, yet very little is known about its mechanical properties. Many parts of the insect exoskeleton, such as the jumping legs of locusts, have to withstand high and repeated loading without failure. This paper presents the first measurements of fracture toughness for insect cuticle using a standard engineering approach. Our results show that the fracture toughness of cuticle in locust hind legs is 4.12MPam 1/2 and decreases with desiccation of the cuticle. Stiffness and strength of the tibia cuticle were measured using buckling and cantilever bending and increased with desiccation. A combination of the cuticleʼs high toughness with a relatively low stiffness of 3.05GPa results in a work of fracture of 5.56kJm -2 , which is amongst the highest of any biological material, giving the insect leg an exceptional ability to tolerate defects such as cracks and damage. Interestingly, insect cuticle achieves these unique properties without using reinforcement by a mineral phase, which is often found in other biological composite materials. These findings thus might inspire the development of new biomimetic composite materials.

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Section: Effect Of Water Content On Mechanical Propertiessupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Correlation Of Stiffness Strength and Toughnesssupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Mechanical Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fracture toughness of locust cuticle

Dirks

Taylor

2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

124

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“…Young's modulus of sclerotized insect cuticle ranges from 1 to 20 GPa [35,36]. For adult insect mandibles, values between 5 and 11 GPa have been reported [36][37][38][39]. The value that we measured lies within this range (5.1 GPa).…”

Section: Finite-element Model: Development and Validationsupporting

confidence: 71%

Finite-element modelling reveals force modulation of jaw adductors in stag beetles

Goyens

Soons

Aerts

et al. 2014

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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Male stag beetles carry large and heavy mandibles that arose through sexual selection over mating rights. Although the mandibles of Cyclommatus metallifer males are used in pugnacious fights, they are surprisingly slender. Our bite force measurements show a muscle force reduction of 18% for tip biting when compared with bites with the teeth located halfway along the mandibles. This suggests a behavioural adaptation to prevent failure. We confirmed this by constructing finite-element (FE) models that mimic both natural bite situations as well as the hypothetical situation of tip biting without muscle force modulation. These models, based on micro-CT images, investigate the material stresses in the mandibles for different combinations of bite location and muscle force. Young's modulus of the cuticle was experimentally determined to be 5.1 GPa with the double indentation method, and the model was validated by digital image correlation on living beetles. FE analysis proves to be a valuable tool in the investigation of the trade-offs of (animal) weapon morphology and usage. Furthermore, the demonstrated bite force modulation in male stag beetles suggests the presence of mechanosensors inside the armature.

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Adaptations for Wear Resistance and Damage Resilience: Micromechanics of Spider Cuticular “Tools”

Tadayon

Younes‐Metzler

Shelef

et al. 2020

Adv Funct Materials

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In the absence of minerals as stiffening agents, insects and spiders often use metal‐ion cross‐linking of protein matrices in their fully organic load‐bearing “tools.” In this comparative study, the hierarchical fiber architecture, elemental distribution, and the micromechanical properties of the manganese‐ and calcium‐rich cuticle of the claws of the spider Cupiennius salei, and the Zn‐rich cuticle of the cheliceral fangs of the same animal are analyzed. By correlating experimental results to finite element analysis, functional microstructural and compositional adaptations are inferred leading to remarkable damage resilience and abrasion tolerance, respectively. The results further reveal that the incorporation of both zinc and manganese/calcium correlates well with increased biomaterial's stiffness and hardness. However, the abrasion‐resistance of the claw material cross‐linked by incorporation of Mn/Ca‐ions surpasses that of many other non‐mineralized biological counterparts and is comparable to that of the fang with more than triple Zn content. These biomaterial‐adaptation paradigms for enhanced wear‐resistance may serve as novel design principles for advanced, high‐performance, functional surfaces, and graded materials.

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Wet or Dry – Hardness, Stiffness and Wear Resistance of Biological Materials on the Micron Scale

Cited by 47 publications

References 19 publications

Fracture toughness of locust cuticle

Fracture toughness of locust cuticle

Finite-element modelling reveals force modulation of jaw adductors in stag beetles

Adaptations for Wear Resistance and Damage Resilience: Micromechanics of Spider Cuticular “Tools”

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