Biological Materials, Biomaterials and Biomimetics

Ulrike G.K. WegstMax-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, Stuttgart, GermanyLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CAAbstract: Biological materials and their skilled use have played a key role in the development of mankind and technology, and the course of history. After millions of years, they are still of great importance today and used both as low cost, high volume materials and as materials for high-tech applications. One reason for their success is that they have properties which cannot easily be emulated by man-made materials, yet. Their striking mechanical efficiency is primarily due to their hierarchical structure which provides them with the potential of optimisation at each structural level, resulting in stiff, strong and tough composites even though, from a mechanical point of view, there is nothing very special about the individual components. The considerable advantage which we have over our ancestors today is that we cannot only use biological materials in their "native" state, but that we have the tools to investigate and test them at almost all levels of their structural hierarchy. With an informed evaluation of their structure, properties and function, principles of optimisation may thus be identified that allow for the development of new or improved man-made materials. Illustrated in this talk will be how the mechanical efficiency and optimisation of biological materials, ranging from bone to seaweed and from mollusc shell to bamboo, can be evaluated and compared with engineering materials. A variety of methods for the structural characterisation of biological materials and their hierarchical composite structure, ranging from synchrotron-based x-ray microtomography to a novel method for in situ mechanical testing in an SEM or FIB, will be presented. Finally, an example for a systematic knowledge transfer from nature to technology that resulted in the successful development of a biomimetic bone-substitute material will be given.

Location: Von Kleinsmid Center For International & Public Affairs (VKC) - 256

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: April Mundy