TY - JOUR
T1 - Natural hydrogel in American lobster
T2 - A soft armor with high toughness and strength
AU - Wu, Jinrong
AU - Qin, Zhao
AU - Qu, Liangliang
AU - Zhang, Hao
AU - Deng, Fei
AU - Guo, Ming
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Hengyi Li for helping in experiments on rubber composites and also Xuanhe Zhao, Hyunwoo Yuk, and Jiliang Hu for their valuable discussions. M.G. acknowledges the support from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, and Z.Q. acknowledges NVIDIA for donating computing accelerators. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.: 51673120 to J.W.) and State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering (Grant No. sklpme2017-3-05 to J.W.). J.W. proposed the study. J.W. M.G. and Z.Q. designed the research. J.W. M.G. and Z.Q. prepared the membrane sample. J.W. F.D. and M.G. performed and analyzed most of the mechanical tests. J.W. L.Q. H.Z. and M.G. performed structural characterizations. Z.Q. performed and analyzed the simulation. M.G. coordinated the study. J.W. Z.Q. and M.G. wrote the manuscript, and all authors revised and approved the manuscript.
Funding Information:
We thank Hengyi Li for helping in experiments on rubber composites and also Xuanhe Zhao, Hyunwoo Yuk, and Jiliang Hu for their valuable discussions. M.G. acknowledges the support from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, and Z.Q. acknowledges NVIDIA for donating computing accelerators. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.: 51673120 to J.W.) and State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering (Grant No. sklpme2017-3-05 to J.W.).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Acta Materialia Inc.
PY - 2019/4/1
Y1 - 2019/4/1
N2 - Homarus americanus, known as American lobster, is fully covered by its exoskeleton composed of rigid cuticles and soft membranes. These soft membranes are mainly located at the joints and abdomen to connect the rigid cuticles and greatly contribute to the agility of the lobster in swimming and preying. Herein, we show that the soft membrane from American lobster is a natural hydrogel (90% water) with exceptionally high toughness (up to 24.98 MJ/m3) and strength (up to 23.36 MPa), and is very insensitive to cracks. By combining experimental measurements and large-scale computational modeling, we demonstrate that the unique multilayered structure in this membrane, achieved through the ordered arrangement of chitin fibers, plays a crucial role in dissipating energy during rupture and making this membrane tough and damage tolerant. The knowledge learned from the soft membrane of natural lobsters sheds light on designing synthetic soft, yet strong and tough materials for reliable usage under extreme mechanical conditions, including a flexible armor that can provide full-body protection without sacrificing limb mobility. Statement of significance: A body armor to provide protection to people who are at risk of being hurt is only enabled by using a material that is tough and strong enough to prevent mechanical penetration. However, most modern body armors sacrifice limb protection to gain mobility, simply because none of the existing armor materials are flexible enough and they all inhibit movement of the arms and legs. Herein, we focus on the mechanics and mesoscopic structure of American lobsters’ soft membrane and explore how such a natural flexible armor is designed to integrate flexibility and toughness. The knowledge learned from this study is useful to design a flexible armor for full-body protection under extreme mechanical conditions.
AB - Homarus americanus, known as American lobster, is fully covered by its exoskeleton composed of rigid cuticles and soft membranes. These soft membranes are mainly located at the joints and abdomen to connect the rigid cuticles and greatly contribute to the agility of the lobster in swimming and preying. Herein, we show that the soft membrane from American lobster is a natural hydrogel (90% water) with exceptionally high toughness (up to 24.98 MJ/m3) and strength (up to 23.36 MPa), and is very insensitive to cracks. By combining experimental measurements and large-scale computational modeling, we demonstrate that the unique multilayered structure in this membrane, achieved through the ordered arrangement of chitin fibers, plays a crucial role in dissipating energy during rupture and making this membrane tough and damage tolerant. The knowledge learned from the soft membrane of natural lobsters sheds light on designing synthetic soft, yet strong and tough materials for reliable usage under extreme mechanical conditions, including a flexible armor that can provide full-body protection without sacrificing limb mobility. Statement of significance: A body armor to provide protection to people who are at risk of being hurt is only enabled by using a material that is tough and strong enough to prevent mechanical penetration. However, most modern body armors sacrifice limb protection to gain mobility, simply because none of the existing armor materials are flexible enough and they all inhibit movement of the arms and legs. Herein, we focus on the mechanics and mesoscopic structure of American lobsters’ soft membrane and explore how such a natural flexible armor is designed to integrate flexibility and toughness. The knowledge learned from this study is useful to design a flexible armor for full-body protection under extreme mechanical conditions.
KW - American lobster
KW - Damage tolerance
KW - Flexible body armor
KW - Hydrogel
KW - Multilayered structure
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U2 - 10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.067
DO - 10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.067
M3 - Article
C2 - 30711661
AN - SCOPUS:85061378549
SN - 1742-7061
VL - 88
SP - 102
EP - 110
JO - Acta Biomaterialia
JF - Acta Biomaterialia
ER -