(September 29, 2015) ETH
material researchers are developing a procedure that allows them to mimic the
complex fine structure of biological composite materials, such as teeth or
seashells. They can thus create synthetic materials that are as hard and tough
as their natural counterparts.
There are few tougher, more durable structures in nature
than teeth or seashells. The secret of these materials lies in their unique
fine structure: they are composed of different layers in which numerous
micro-platelets are joined together, aligned in identical orientation in each
layer.
Although methods exist that allow material scientists to
imitate nacre, it was a challenge to create a material that imitates the entire
seashell, with comparable properties and structural complexity.
Now a group of researchers led by André Studart, Professor
of Complex Materials, has developed a new procedure that mimics the natural
model almost perfectly. The scientists were able to produce a tough,
multi-layered material based on the construction principle of teeth or
seashells. The ETH researchers managed, for the first time, to re-create in a
single complex piece the multiple layers of micro-platelets with identical
orientation in each layer.
It is a procedure the ETH researchers call magnetically
assisted slip casting (MASC). “The wonderful thing about our new procedure is
that it builds on a 100-year-old technique and combines it with modern material
research,” says Studart’s doctoral student Tobias Niebel, co-author of a study
just published in the specialist journal Nature Materials.