Bioinspired design of flexible armor based on chiton scales
Name
s41467-019-13215-0.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
3.5 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ee0de5aaf30a6dc00386620e0fa8d539
Author(s)
Connors, Matthew J.
Massaadi, Hajar H
Ortiz, Christine
Date Issued
December 2019
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Connors, Matthew et al. “Bioinspired design of flexible armor based on chiton scales.” Nature Communications 10 (2019): 5413 © 2019 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Man-made armors often rely on rigid structures for mechanical protection, which typically results in a trade-off with flexibility and maneuverability. Chitons, a group of marine mollusks, evolved scaled armors that address similar challenges. Many chiton species possess hundreds of small, mineralized scales arrayed on the soft girdle that surrounds their overlapping shell plates. Ensuring both flexibility for locomotion and protection of the underlying soft body, the scaled girdle is an excellent model for multifunctional armor design. Here we conduct a systematic study of the material composition, nanomechanical properties, three-dimensional geometry, and interspecific structural diversity of chiton girdle scales. Moreover, inspired by the tessellated organization of chiton scales, we fabricate a synthetic flexible scaled armor analogue using parametric computational modeling and multi-material 3D printing. This approach allows us to conduct a quantitative evaluation of our chiton-inspired armor to assess its orientation-dependent flexibility and protection capabilities.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13215-0
