Building bridges better and structures stronger
Can Mother Nature help Scientists make tougher materials?
Research published in Materials Research Letters this month reveals that materials used in engineering could be made stronger using inspiration from the structure of bones and bamboo.
Metal is comprised of millions of closely-packed grains. The smaller the size of the individual grain, the less we can stretch the metal without it breaking. The study reveals that by manipulating the size of the grains, in particular making the grains bigger as you go further into the metal, the stronger and more ductile the metal becomes.
This manipulation creates a ‘gradient structure’ that is similar to structures found in bamboo stalks and animal bones.
The authors of the article, X. L. Wu, P. Jiang, L. Chen, J. F. Zhang, F. P. Yuan & Y. T. Zhu comment that ‘this represents a new mechanism for strengthening that exploits the principles of both mechanics and materials science.’
The authors suggest that the research ‘may provide for a novel strategy for designing material structures with superior properties’.
Read the full article online: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21663831.2014.935821
For more information please contact:
Vicki Cottrell
Taylor & Francis Journals
vicki.cottrell@tandf.co.uk
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