Advanced Structural Materials by Bioinspiration

• Published in: Advanced engineering materials Vol. 19; no. 5
• Main Authors: Libonati, Flavia, Buehler, Markus J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.05.2017
• ISSN: 1438-1656; 1527-2648
• DOI: 10.1002/adem.201600787

In the quest of increasing safety and efficiency in structural applications, learning from natural materials can be a promising approach. Nature has evolved for billions of years to develop elaborate strategies, achieving optimal material solutions. A brief review of exemplar natural materials is provided here, with a focus on their multiscale structures. The design motifs, common to biological structural materials, are summarized, with a highlight on the structure‐property relationship. A review of recent advancement in the manufacturing of bio‐inspired composites is given, followed by recent and successful case studies. Finally, a critical discussion, highlighting the limitations of the current techniques, and prospecting the future challenges for the design of novel materials for engineering applications. Nature uses several strategies to turn weakness into strength. By combining few universal building blocks confined to a specific size and arranged into different substructures interacting through carefully designed interfaces, Nature is able to produce a large variety of multiscale hierarchical materials, which are efficient, multifunctional and sustainable.