Time-lapse three-dimensional imaging of crack propagation in beetle cuticle

Dan Sykes; Rebecca Hartwell; Rob S. Bradley; Timothy L. Burnett; Benjamin Hornberger; Russell J. Garwood; Philip J. Withers

doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.031

Time-lapse three-dimensional imaging of crack propagation in beetle cuticle

Dan Sykes, Rebecca Hartwell, Rob S. Bradley, Timothy L. Burnett, Benjamin Hornberger, Russell J. Garwood, Philip J. Withers

Materials Engineering

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Abstract

Arthropod cuticle has extraordinary properties. It is very stiff and tough whilst being lightweight, yet it is made of rather ordinary constituents. This desirable combination of properties results from a hierarchical structure, but we currently have a poor understanding of how this impedes damage propagation. Here we use non-destructive, time-lapse in situ tensile testing within an X-ray nanotomography (nCT) system to visualise crack progression through dry beetle elytron (wing case) cuticle in 3D. We find that its hierarchical pseudo-orthogonal laminated microstructure exploits many extrinsic toughening mechanisms, including crack deflection, fibre and laminate pull-out and crack bridging. We highlight lessons to be learned in the design of engineering structures from the toughening methods employed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	109-116
Number of pages	8
Journal	Acta Biomaterialia
Volume	86
Early online date	17 Jan 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.031
Publication status	Published - 2019

Keywords

Arthropod cuticle
Biological composites
Time-lapse imaging
X-ray tomography

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10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.031

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https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1742706119300510

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ICAL: Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life
Garwood, R. (PI), Wogelius, R. (PI), Sansom, R. (CoI), Buckley, M. (CoI), Chamberlain, A. (CoI), Manning, P. (CoI), Egerton, V. (CoI), Sellers, W. (CoI), Nudds, J. (CoI), Bulot, L. G. (CoI), Brocklehurst, R. (PGR student), Brassey, C. A. (CoI), Keating, J. (CoI), La Porta, A. (CoI), Brocklehurst, R. (PGR student), Callender-Crowe, L. (PGR student), Wallace, E. (PGR student), Chester, J. (PGR student), Davenport, J. (PGR student), Tuley, K. (PGR student), Lomax, D. (Researcher), Reeves, J. (PGR student), Smart, C. (PGR student), Ferro, C. (PGR student), Karoullas, C. (PGR student), Heath, J. (PGR student), Dickson, A. (PGR student), Austin Sydes, L. (PGR student), McLean, C. (PGR student), Harvey, V. (PGR student) & Jones, K. (PI)
Project: Research
XRADIA : High Resolution of 4D Imaging of Degradation and Self-repair Processes
Withers, P. (PI), Bailey, C. (CoI) & Lee, P. (CoI)
1/04/12 → 31/03/22
Project: Research
Structural Evolution across multiple time and length scales
Withers, P. (PI), Cartmell, S. (CoI), Cernik, R. (CoI), Derby, B. (CoI), Eichhorn, S. (CoI), Freemont, A. (CoI), Hollis, C. (CoI), Mummery, P. (CoI), Sherratt, M. (CoI), Thompson, G. (CoI) & Watts, D. (CoI)
1/06/11 → 31/05/16
Project: Research

Cite this

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title = "Time-lapse three-dimensional imaging of crack propagation in beetle cuticle",

abstract = "Arthropod cuticle has extraordinary properties. It is very stiff and tough whilst being lightweight, yet it is made of rather ordinary constituents. This desirable combination of properties results from a hierarchical structure, but we currently have a poor understanding of how this impedes damage propagation. Here we use non-destructive, time-lapse in situ tensile testing within an X-ray nanotomography (nCT) system to visualise crack progression through dry beetle elytron (wing case) cuticle in 3D. We find that its hierarchical pseudo-orthogonal laminated microstructure exploits many extrinsic toughening mechanisms, including crack deflection, fibre and laminate pull-out and crack bridging. We highlight lessons to be learned in the design of engineering structures from the toughening methods employed.",

keywords = "Arthropod cuticle, Biological composites, Time-lapse imaging, X-ray tomography",

author = "Dan Sykes and Rebecca Hartwell and Bradley, {Rob S.} and Burnett, {Timothy L.} and Benjamin Hornberger and Garwood, {Russell J.} and Withers, {Philip J.}",

year = "2019",

doi = "10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.031",

language = "English",

volume = "86",

pages = "109--116",

journal = "Acta Biomaterialia",

issn = "1742-7061",

publisher = "Acta Materialia Inc",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Time-lapse three-dimensional imaging of crack propagation in beetle cuticle

AU - Sykes, Dan

AU - Hartwell, Rebecca

AU - Bradley, Rob S.

AU - Burnett, Timothy L.

AU - Hornberger, Benjamin

AU - Garwood, Russell J.

AU - Withers, Philip J.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Arthropod cuticle has extraordinary properties. It is very stiff and tough whilst being lightweight, yet it is made of rather ordinary constituents. This desirable combination of properties results from a hierarchical structure, but we currently have a poor understanding of how this impedes damage propagation. Here we use non-destructive, time-lapse in situ tensile testing within an X-ray nanotomography (nCT) system to visualise crack progression through dry beetle elytron (wing case) cuticle in 3D. We find that its hierarchical pseudo-orthogonal laminated microstructure exploits many extrinsic toughening mechanisms, including crack deflection, fibre and laminate pull-out and crack bridging. We highlight lessons to be learned in the design of engineering structures from the toughening methods employed.

AB - Arthropod cuticle has extraordinary properties. It is very stiff and tough whilst being lightweight, yet it is made of rather ordinary constituents. This desirable combination of properties results from a hierarchical structure, but we currently have a poor understanding of how this impedes damage propagation. Here we use non-destructive, time-lapse in situ tensile testing within an X-ray nanotomography (nCT) system to visualise crack progression through dry beetle elytron (wing case) cuticle in 3D. We find that its hierarchical pseudo-orthogonal laminated microstructure exploits many extrinsic toughening mechanisms, including crack deflection, fibre and laminate pull-out and crack bridging. We highlight lessons to be learned in the design of engineering structures from the toughening methods employed.

KW - Arthropod cuticle

KW - Biological composites

KW - Time-lapse imaging

KW - X-ray tomography

U2 - 10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.031

DO - 10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.031

M3 - Article

SN - 1742-7061

VL - 86

SP - 109

EP - 116

JO - Acta Biomaterialia

JF - Acta Biomaterialia

ER -

Time-lapse three-dimensional imaging of crack propagation in beetle cuticle

Abstract

Keywords

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Projects

ICAL: Interdisciplinary Centre for Ancient Life

XRADIA : High Resolution of 4D Imaging of Degradation and Self-repair Processes

Structural Evolution across multiple time and length scales

Cite this