Evolutionary Design Principles Towards Impact-Resistant Bomimetic Nanocomposites

Sourangsu Sarkar, Post-Doc, UC Riverside

Trilobites (collaboration with Prof. Nigel Hughes, UCR):Trilobites are a fossil group of earliest known extinct marine arthropods. This species first appeared Early Cambrian period ~520 million years ago, and disappeared in the Permian period ~250 million years ago. This suggests that these arthropods survive for a long time. This encouraged our group to investigate the structural features of the animal cuticle that made them survive for such a long time span.

Spider Silk (collaboration with Prof. Cheryl Hayashi, UCR): Spider silk, a widely investigated natural light-weight material, is known for its high strength and ductility (even stronger than steel by weight). This unique combination of mechanical properties in silk fibers is attributed to interplay between hard crystalline domains of alanine and soft amorphous matrix of glycine blocks.

Polymers: Poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) is a commonly available polymer precursor for the production of carbon fibers via wet-spinning process. In a wet-spinning process, the dope is immersed in a coagulation bath and then extruded through spinnert holes. Most research in carbon fiber composites is devoted to composites made from micron-scale fibers, herein we attempt to fabricate nanocomposites, in true sense, from carbon nanofibers that are at least one order of magnitude smaller than conventional carbon fibers. With the development of advanced technology to mass produce electrospun nanofibers, these nanocomposites could find potential applications as construction materials for future generation armor vehicle, body armor, and in aircraft parts.

Bamboo: A Functional Graded Material

Yunlan Zhang, Post-Doc, Purdue

Diabolic Ironclad Beetle: Insight Into Design of High Impact-Resistance Materials via Soft Matter Hierarchy

Yulai Han, Post-Doc, UC Riverside

Beetles: Composite materials of light weight and high strength are of particular interest in practical industrial applications. Biomaterials, as natural composites, have been inspiring materials scientists to fabricate high performance materials under ambient conditions. We introduce a new type of biomaterials that promises to shed new light on the design of impact-resistance materials. Insects of the order Coleoptera, commonly known as beetles, have modified forewings called elytra. These hardened cuticles serve multiple functions, including providing protection from predators, creating lift during flight, and water collection in dry climates. The diabolical ironclad beetle (Family: Zopheridae) is particularly attractive because of its unique hierarchical structures and mechanical properties.

Structure-Property Relationships and Biomimetic Designs of the Stomatopod Dactyl Club and Telson

Nick Yaraghi, Grad Student, UC Riverside