Hierarchical Composite Materials
A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Hybrid and Composite Crystalline Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2021) | Viewed by 9300
Special Issue Editors
Interests: porous media; continuum mechanics; applied mechanics; computational biomechanics; coupled problems
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Naturally occurring hierarchical-structured composite materials have extraordinary mechanical properties. The prime examples are spider dragline silk and nacre. Spider dragline silk has an unusual combination of high strength, extensibility, and toughness, outperforming some of the best human-made materials in terms of its mechanical performance. Dragline silk has a semi-crystalline structure consisting of a crystalline region of short polyalanine segments forming stiff β-sheet nanocrystals. These are surrounded by amorphous glycine-rich domains, which provide extensibility of the fiber. Nacre, also known as the Mother of Pearl, is an organic–inorganic composite material produced by some mollusks as an inner shell layer. In the last three decades, the structure and the toughening mechanism of nacre have been the subject of intensive research. This interest originates from nacre’s excellent combination of strength, stiffness, and toughness. It is composed of hexagonal platelets of aragonite arranged in a continuous parallel lamina. The layers are separated by sheets of an organic matrix composed of elastic biopolymers. This mixture of brittle platelets and the thin layers of elastic biopolymers make the material strong and resilient.
We invite researchers to contribute to the Special Issue on Hierarchical Composite Materials, which is proposed to serve as a unique multidisciplinary platform covering broad aspects of science, engineering, and the application of hierarchical-structured biomaterials and nature-inspired human-made composite materials.
Prof. Dr. Bernd Markert
Dr. Sandeep Patil
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Biomaterials
- Hierarchical-structured composites
- Nature-inspired composites
- Multiscale modeling
- Structure–properties relationships
- Mechanical properties
- Toughening mechanisms
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