Journal Article

Bioinspired design of flexible armor based on chiton scales

Massaadi, Hajar, Ortiz, Christine, Connors, Matthew, Li, Ling, Deng, Zhifei, Eernisse, Douglas, Yang, Ting, Yazdandoost, Fatemeh, Dean, Mason N., Mirzaeifar, Reza, Hosny, Ahmed, Weaver, James C.

2019

Overview

Man-made armors often rely on rigid structures for mechanical protection, which typically results in a trade-off with flexibility and maneuverability. Chitons, a group of marine mollusks, evolved scaled armors that address similar challenges. Many chiton species possess hundreds of small, mineralized scales arrayed on the soft girdle that surrounds their overlapping shell plates. Ensuring both flexibility for locomotion and protection of the underlying soft body, the scaled girdle is an excellent model for multifunctional armor design. Here we conduct a systematic study of the material composition, nanomechanical properties, three-dimensional geometry, and interspecific structural diversity of chiton girdle scales. Moreover, inspired by the tessellated organization of chiton scales, we fabricate a synthetic flexible scaled armor analogue using parametric computational modeling and multi-material 3D printing. This approach allows us to conduct a quantitative evaluation of our chiton-inspired armor to assess its orientation-dependent flexibility and protection capabilities. Biology has often served as the inspiration for the design of body armor; one common limitation is the flexibility of the resultant armor. Here, the authors examine the armour of chiton and use the observed design principles to 3D print flexible armor.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 147/135 / 147/28 / 639/301/1023/303 / 639/301/54/989 / Armor / Biomimetics / Design / Humanities and Social Sciences / multidisciplinary / Science / Science & Technology - Other Topics / Science (multidisciplinary) / Three dimensional printing