Hierarchical structure and mechanical properties of nacre:​ a review

Sunab, Jiyu; Bhushan, Bharat

Affiliations

¹Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering (Ministry of Education), Jilin University, Changchun, 130025, P. R. China

²Nanoprobe Laboratory for Bio- & Nanotechnology and Biomimetics (NLB2), The Ohio State University, 201 W. 19th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1142, USA

Abstract

Nacre (known as mother of pearl) is the iridescent inner shell layer of some mollusks. Nacre is composed of 95 wt% aragonite (a crystallographic form of CaCO3) and 5 wt% organic materials (proteins and polysaccharides). It is well known that it exhibits high fracture toughness, much greater than that of monolithic aragonite, because of its ingenious structure. It also exhibits energy absorption properties. It has a complex hierarchical microarchitecture that spans multiple length scales from the nanoscale to the macroscale. It includes columnar architectures and sheet tiles, mineral bridges, polygonal nanograins, nanoasperities, plastic microbuckling, crack deflection, and interlocking bricks, which exhibit a remarkable combination of stiffness, low weight and strength. Nacre’s special self-assembly characteristics have attracted interest from materials scientists for the development of laminated composite materials, molecular scale self-assembly and biomineralization. This paper reviews the characteristics of hierarchical structure and the mechanical properties of nacre that provide the desired properties, and the latest developments and biomimetic applications.

Links

DOI: 10.1039/c2ra20218b

WoS: 000307584300001

History

Received: 2012-02-7

Accepted: 2012-05-03

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Cited By (1)

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