New glass inspired by a seashell (earthsky.org)
By Deanna Conners in
Blogs | Earth | Human World on Feb 25, 2014
Engineers at McGill have invented a new biomimetic technique that can make glass more shatter resistant. The design of the new glass was inspired by the micro-architecture of seashells, and they published their research in the journal Nature Communications on January 28, 2014.
Glass is truly a remarkable material—it’s transparent, durable, and it can be molded into a variety of shapes such as those found in windows, cups, bowls, and vases. Glass, however, will shatter when subjected to enough force, and this has long been a downside of its use in consumer and commercial products.
Engineers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McGill have been busy studying strong natural materials such as teeth and seashells in an attempt to improve the toughness of glass. Their work is based on biomimicry or the science of imitating nature.
Several species of mollusks have shells that are lined with an inner, iridescent layer of nacre, which is also known as mother-of-pearl. The nacre layer consists of many hard plates of calcium carbonate that are cushioned by an organic matrix of proteins. While the organic matrix is weaker than the hard chalk-like plates, the organic matrix actually adds to the strength of shells through its ability to trap and prevent any cracks that form from spreading. This makes the shells much less brittle.
The engineers at McGill mimicked the crack-trapping properties of nacre by using a laser to engrave a wavy network of micro-cracks into small rectangles of glass. The micro-cracks were able to stop cracks from propagating through the glass. They then filled the cracks with polyurethane and found that the pieces of engraved glass were about 200 times stronger than non-engraved glass.
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more: http://earthsky.org/earth/new-glass-inspired-by-a-seashell
press release: http://www.mcgill.ca/channels/news/glass-bends-doesn%E2%80%99t-break-232659
paper: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140128/ncomms4166/full/ncomms4166.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
...to bad the RWers hate them so....
This research/creation is fascinating!
- Once again.
K&R