Title: New strengthening mechanisms of nacre in the abalone shell

Authors: MariAnne Sullivan; Yan Chen; Bart Prorok

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University, 275 Wilmore Laboratories, Auburn, AL 36849, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University, 275 Wilmore Laboratories, Auburn, AL 36849, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University, 275 Wilmore Laboratories, Auburn, AL 36849, USA

Abstract: Abalone shells have been studied extensively because of their unique nacre structure. Colloquially known as mother-of-pearl, this material is surprisingly strong because of a biomineralised composite structure. There is a separate component of the structure that has not been well-addressed, termed as a mesolayer. These are found in wild abalones, and not typically in abalones from a farm-raised environment. Growth of the abalone shells was controlled in the laboratory setting in order to induce a change in structure with temperature fluctuations. The main goal was to induce a mesolayer with a temperature decrease, with the aim of replicating the shell architecture found in wild abalones. These findings will help shape new material architectures for protective applications.

Keywords: nanoindentation; abalone shells; biomimetics; mother-of-pearl; nacre; elastic modulus; nanoscale testing; bio-inspired structures; protective applications; strengthening mechanisms; mesolayer; abalones; temperature fluctuations; protection.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECB.2015.073926

International Journal of Experimental and Computational Biomechanics, 2015 Vol.3 No.3, pp.236 - 249

Received: 23 Jul 2014
Accepted: 02 Apr 2015
Published online: 30 Dec 2015 *

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