Advances in Engineering Advances in Engineering features breaking research judged by Advances in Engineering advisory team to be of key importance in the Engineering field. Papers are selected from over 10,000 published each week from most peer reviewed journals.
Significance
Scientists all over the world are pushing really hard to innovate new eco-friendly techniques of significant efficiency in material development. One smart way is to explore Nature’s ingenious ways of resolving problems. Biological systems have evolved unique combinations of mechanical properties to fulfil their specific function through a series of ingenious designs. The weapons developed during Nature’s evolutionary arms race are an outstanding example. Unfortunately, the principles underlying many of Nature’s solutions largely remain to be explored and integrated with the attributes of current artificial strategies, such as the large selection of synthetic components and cost-effective fabrication routes. Therefore, seeking lessons from Nature by replicating the underlying principles of such biological materials offers new promise for creating unique combinations of properties in man-made systems. In particular, Nature’s prolific and well refined means of attack and defence.
Recently, researchers in the field biomechanics and bioinspired materials: associate professor Zengqian Liu and Professor Zhefeng Zhang at the Institute of Metal Research Chinese Academy of Sciences and in collaboration with Professor Robert O. Ritchie from the University of California Berkeley conduct a thorough and expert review of the critical structural and mechanical designs employed by naturally evolved weapons in pursuing their high mechanical efficiency during Nature’s evolutionary arms race. The team of material scientist experts considered selected materials as examples in the framework of a classification of such weapons into ten different groups. Specifically, they aspired to revisit various offensive mechanisms (such as teeth/tusks, sting, spikes etc.) and defensive mechanisms in various animals. Their report is currently published in the research journal, Advanced Materials.
The report entailed analysing and extracting the common materials-design strategies towards an outstanding synergy of offence and persistence of the weapons. Next, a representative state-of-the-art progress in man-made systems, where such strategies have been effectively replicated, was then presented. The researchers then revisited the main challenges and potential opportunities associated with natural weapons in biological and bioinspired materials research.
In the course of their review, the authors found out that Nature could offer inspiration to be engendered for the design and development of new materials and functionalities. They also noted that three critical stages were inevitable for the success of biomimetics and bio-inspiration oriented endeavours, the three included: characterizing (biological systems), understanding (the underlying mechanisms and principles), and learning (from Nature by replicating biological strategies in man-made systems).
In summary, the study presents a detailed revisit of Nature’s ingenious yet effective evolutionary adaptations refined over millions of years. In general, the exploration of biological materials embodies almost an unlimited task in view of Nature’s endless biodiversity. Nonetheless, fresh lessons can also be generated by re-examining already known systems, particularly with regard to the notion of convergent evolution in Nature. Aside from increasing our understanding of the basic science of Nature, the insights into biological material systems, as represented by the current topic of Nature’s arms race, will undoubtedly provide further inspiration towards achieving enhanced material properties and functionality in man-made systems. Altogether, taking lessons from biological systems presents an enlightening strategy for the design of new materials with potentially unprecedented combinations of properties and/or functionality.
