Tough, Bio-Inspired Hybrid Materials
Open accessAbstract
The notion of mimicking natural structures in the synthesis of new structural materials has generated enormous interest but has yielded few practical advances. Natural composites achieve strength and toughness through complex hierarchical designs that are extremely difficult to replicate synthetically. We emulate nature's toughening mechanisms by combining two ordinary compounds, aluminum oxide and polymethyl methacrylate, into ice-templated structures whose toughness can be more than 300 times (in energy terms) that of their constituents. The final product is a bulk hybrid ceramic-based material whose high yield strength and fracture toughness [∼200 megapascals (MPa) and ∼30 MPa·m 1/2 ] represent specific properties comparable to those of aluminum alloys. These model materials can be used to identify the key microstructural features that should guide the synthesis of bio-inspired ceramic-based composites with unique strength and toughness.
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High volume fraction reinforcement composites using layer-by-layer and freeze-casting techniques have strengths of hundreds of MPa, an order of magnitude lower than limpet tooth strength.
“Additional comparisons could be made by consideration of high volume fraction reinforcement composites using layer-by-layer [31,32] and freeze-casting techniques [33,34]. In these cases, the composite material strengths are hundreds of MPa, highlighting the order of magnitude enhancement in tensile strength and general extreme mechanical performance of the limpet tooth samples.”
From Extreme strength observed in limpet teeth (2015) · cites this paper as [33]
Cites
Biological materials: Structure and mechanical properties
Meyers, M. A., Chen, P.-Y., Lin, A. Y.-M., & Seki, Y. (2008) · Progress in Materials Science · doi:10.1016/j.pmatsci.2007.05.002 · Cited by 2,573 · see citing works
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The conflicts between strength and toughness
Ritchie, R. O. (2011) · Nature Materials · doi:10.1038/nmat3115 · Cited by 3,989 · see citing works
Self-citationBiological materials: Functional adaptations and bioinspired designs
Chen, P.-Y., McKittrick, J., & Meyers, M. A. (2012) · Progress in Materials Science · doi:10.1016/j.pmatsci.2012.03.001 · Cited by 766 · see citing works
High strain rate deformation of layered nanocomposites
Lee, J.-H., Veysset, D., Singer, J. P., Retsch, M., Saini, G., Pezeril, T., Nelson, K. A., & Thomas, E. L. (2012) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms2166 · Cited by 239 · see citing works
Extreme strength observed in limpet teeth
Barber, A. H., Lu, D., & Pugno, N. M. (2015) · Journal of the Royal Society Interface · doi:10.1098/rsif.2014.1326 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Fiber‐Reinforced Viscoelastomers Show Extraordinary Crack Resistance That Exceeds Metals
Cui, W., King, D. R., Huang, Y., Chen, L., Sun, T. L., Guo, Y., Saruwatari, Y., Hui, C., Kurokawa, T., & Gong, J. P. (2020) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.201907180 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
- Authors
- Munch, E., Launey, M. E., Alsem, D. H., Saiz, E., Tomsia, A. P., & Ritchie, R. O.
- Affiliations
- Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ritchie, R. O.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2008-12-05
- Volume
- 322
- Issue
- 5907
- Pages
- 1516-1520
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W74000568
- Cited by
- 1,822
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 72 · 2025: 109 · 2024: 90 · 2023: 91 · 2022: 124 · 2021: 119 · 2020: 145 · 2019: 131 · 2018: 114 · 2017: 124 · 2016: 116 · 2015: 146 · 2014: 87 · 2013: 98 · 2012: 91
- FWCI
- 23.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.osti.gov
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
- University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas) (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Calcium Carbonate Crystallization and Inhibition
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Ceramics and Composites › Advanced ceramic materials synthesis
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Bone Tissue Engineering Materials
- Keywords
- biomimetic materials, toughening mechanisms, hierarchy, freeze casting, alumina, poly(methyl methacrylate), fracture toughness, yield strength, microstructure, biomimetic composites
- MeSH terms
- Aluminum Oxide, Animals, Calcium Carbonate, Ceramics, Elasticity, Freezing, Materials Testing, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Gastropoda, Mechanical Phenomena
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