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Biomimetic Composites and Design
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Biomimetic Composites and Design

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Composites".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2022) | Viewed by 11581

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Parvez Alam

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Institute for Materials and Processes, The University of Edinburgh, Sanderson Building, Robert Stevenson Road, Scotland EH9 3FB, UK
Interests: biomimetic design; composite materials; bioinspired engineering; comparative biomechanics; mechanical metamaterials; cellular solids
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue, “Biomimetic Composites and Design”, will elucidate the latest advances in composite materials and design as inspired by biological materials, systems and connections. The focus of this Special Issue is on mechanical behaviour. Mechanical behaviour guides the way in which we design and use structures and components in a wide variety of industrial settings (e.g., aerospace, automotive, defence, renewable energy, biomedical, construction). High-end properties such as strength, stiffness, impact resistance, and fatigue life are important to couple to light weight, low cost and ease of manufacture. Composite materials are enablers of such couplings, but there remains considerable room for further advancements in the science, engineering and mechanical design of composites. Significant developments over recent decades in imaging, testing and modelling have brought to light the existence of specialised function-specific designs in nature. Biological materials, systems and connections offer novel pathways to the innovation of composites, both in terms of design and manufacture. Original research papers, short communications presenting emerging techniques and review articles are solicited for this Special Issue, with particular focus in the following areas:

  • Mechanical behaviour and properties (stress/strain/time relationships) of engineered biomimetic composites/joints, or natural biological materials/composites;
  • Characterisation (material/chemical/physical) of biomimetic composites or biological materials in relation to mechanical behaviour;
  • Fracture, failure and plasticity of biomimetic composites or biological materials;
  • Geometrical design of biological materials or biomimetic materials/composites in relation to mechanical behaviour;
  • The design of biomimetic engineered joints or natural biological joints in relation to mechanical behaviour;
  • 3D printing/additive manufacturing of biomimetic geometries, biomimetic joints, or the geometrical design of biomimetic composites;
  • Mechanical behaviour of cellular solids (in a biomimetic or biological context);
  • Long-term fatigue/creep/wear of engineered biomimetic composites or natural biological materials;
  • Novel measurement and modelling techniques to determine the mechanical behaviour and properties of engineered biomimetic composites and natural biological materials;
  • Correlations between morphology/geometry and mechanics in terms of properties and behaviour (with specific focus on engineered biomimetic composites or natural biological designs).

Dr. Parvez Alam
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Biomimetic design
  • Composites
  • Biological materials
  • Additive manufacturing/3D printing
  • Fracture
  • Strength
  • Fatigue
  • Cellular solids
  • Mechanical design
  • Materials design
  • Bioinspired engineering
  • Mechanical behaviour

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 4062 KiB  
Article
Impact Resistant Structure Design and Optimization Inspired by Turtle Carapace
by Baoqing Pei, Lei Guo, Xueqing Wu, Mengyuan Hu, Shuqin Wu and Yangwei Wang
Materials 2022, 15(8), 2899; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15082899 - 15 Apr 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2373
Abstract
The turtle carapace has a high level of protection, due to its unique biological structure, and there is great potential to use the turtle carapace structure to improve the impact resistance of composite materials using bionic theory. In this paper, the chemical elements [...] Read more.
The turtle carapace has a high level of protection, due to its unique biological structure, and there is great potential to use the turtle carapace structure to improve the impact resistance of composite materials using bionic theory. In this paper, the chemical elements of the turtle carapace structure, as well as its mechanical properties, were investigated by studying the composition of the compounds in each part. In addition, the bionic sandwich structure, composed of the plate, core, and backplate, was designed using modeling software based on the microstructure of the keratin scutes, spongy bone, and the spine of the turtle carapace. Additionally, finite element analysis and drop-weight experiments were utilized to validate the impact-resistant performance of the bionic structures. The numerical results show that all of the bionic structures had improved impact resistance to varying degrees when compared with the control group. The experimental results show that the split plate, the core with changing pore gradients, and the backplate with stiffener all have a considerable effect on the impact-resistance performance of overall composite structures. This preliminary study provides theoretical support for composite material optimization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimetic Composites and Design)
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10 pages, 2304 KiB  
Article
Modeling Bioinspired Fish Scale Designs via a Geometric and Numerical Approach
by Ailin Chen, Komal Thind, Kahraman G. Demir and Grace X. Gu
Materials 2021, 14(18), 5378; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14185378 - 17 Sep 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2703
Abstract
Fish scales serve as a natural dermal armor with remarkable flexibility and puncture resistance. Through studying fish scales, researchers can replicate these properties and tune them by adjusting their design parameters to create biomimetic scales. Overlapping scales, as seen in elasmoid scales, can [...] Read more.
Fish scales serve as a natural dermal armor with remarkable flexibility and puncture resistance. Through studying fish scales, researchers can replicate these properties and tune them by adjusting their design parameters to create biomimetic scales. Overlapping scales, as seen in elasmoid scales, can lead to complex interactions between each scale. These interactions are able to maintain the stiffness of the fish’s structure with improved flexibility. Hence, it is important to understand these interactions in order to design biomimetic fish scales. Modeling the flexibility of fish scales, when subject to shear loading across a substrate, requires accounting for nonlinear relations. Current studies focus on characterizing these kinematic linear and nonlinear regions but fall short in modeling the kinematic phase shift. Here, we propose an approach that will predict when the linear-to-nonlinear transition will occur, allowing for more control of the overall behavior of the fish scale structure. Using a geometric analysis of the interacting scales, we can model the flexibility at the transition point where the scales start to engage in a nonlinear manner. The validity of these geometric predictions is investigated through finite element analysis. This investigation will allow for efficient optimization of scale-like designs and can be applied to various applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimetic Composites and Design)
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15 pages, 4295 KiB  
Article
The Impact Behaviour of Crab Carapaces in Relation to Morphology
by Puspa Restu Sayekti, Fahrunnida, Gabrielis Cerniauskas, Colin Robert, Bambang Retnoaji and Parvez Alam
Materials 2020, 13(18), 3994; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13183994 - 09 Sep 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2673
Abstract
Brachyuran crab carapaces are protective, impact-resistant exoskeletons with elaborate material microstructures. Though several research efforts have been made to characterise the physical, material and mechanical properties of the crab carapace, there are no studies detailing how crab morphologies might influence impact resistance. The [...] Read more.
Brachyuran crab carapaces are protective, impact-resistant exoskeletons with elaborate material microstructures. Though several research efforts have been made to characterise the physical, material and mechanical properties of the crab carapace, there are no studies detailing how crab morphologies might influence impact resistance. The purpose of this paper is to characterise and compare Brachyuran crab carapace morphologies in relation to their impact properties, using opto-digital, experimental and numerical methods. We find that crab carapaces with both extended carapace arc-lengths and deep carapace grooves lose stiffness rapidly under cyclic impact loading, and fail in a brittle manner. Contrarily, carapaces with smaller arc lengths and shallower, more broadly distributed carapace grooves are more effective in dissipating stresses caused by impact throughout the carapace structure. This allows them to retain stiffness for longer, and influences their failure mode, which is ductile (denting), rather than brittle fracture. The findings in this paper provide new bioinspired approaches for the geometrical designs by which means material failure under cyclic impact can be controlled and manipulated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimetic Composites and Design)
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Review

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18 pages, 1087 KiB  
Review
Progress and Current Limitations of Materials for Artificial Bile Duct Engineering
by Qiqi Sun, Zefeng Shen, Xiao Liang, Yingxu He, Deling Kong, Adam C. Midgley and Kai Wang
Materials 2021, 14(23), 7468; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14237468 - 06 Dec 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2863
Abstract
Bile duct injury (BDI) and bile tract diseases are regarded as prominent challenges in hepatobiliary surgery due to the risk of severe complications. Hepatobiliary, pancreatic, and gastrointestinal surgery can inadvertently cause iatrogenic BDI. The commonly utilized clinical treatment of BDI is biliary-enteric anastomosis. [...] Read more.
Bile duct injury (BDI) and bile tract diseases are regarded as prominent challenges in hepatobiliary surgery due to the risk of severe complications. Hepatobiliary, pancreatic, and gastrointestinal surgery can inadvertently cause iatrogenic BDI. The commonly utilized clinical treatment of BDI is biliary-enteric anastomosis. However, removal of the Oddi sphincter, which serves as a valve control over the unidirectional flow of bile to the intestine, can result in complications such as reflux cholangitis, restenosis of the bile duct, and cholangiocarcinoma. Tissue engineering and biomaterials offer alternative approaches for BDI treatment. Reconstruction of mechanically functional and biomimetic structures to replace bile ducts aims to promote the ingrowth of bile duct cells and realize tissue regeneration of bile ducts. Current research on artificial bile ducts has remained within preclinical animal model experiments. As more research shows artificial bile duct replacements achieving effective mechanical and functional prevention of biliary peritonitis caused by bile leakage or obstructive jaundice after bile duct reconstruction, clinical translation of tissue-engineered bile ducts has become a theoretical possibility. This literature review provides a comprehensive collection of published works in relation to three tissue engineering approaches for biomimetic bile duct construction: mechanical support from scaffold materials, cell seeding methods, and the incorporation of biologically active factors to identify the advancements and current limitations of materials and methods for the development of effective artificial bile ducts that promote tissue regeneration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimetic Composites and Design)
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