The Earth's Lithosphere Inspires Materials Design

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 33; no. 3; pp. e2005473 - n/a
• Main Authors: Beygelzimer, Yan, Kulagin, Roman, Fratzl, Peter, Estrin, Yuri
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.01.2021
• Subjects: architectured materials; Biomimetic materials; biomimetics; lithomimetics; Lithosphere; Materials science; Plastic deformation; self‐organization; severe plastic deformation; architectured materials; self-organization; severe plastic deformation; biomimetics; lithomimetics
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202005473

Structural patterns found in living organisms have long been inspiring biomimetic materials design. Here, it is suggested that a rich palette of patterns occurring in inanimate Nature, and especially in the Earth's lithosphere, could be not less inspirational for design of novel architectured materials. This materials design paradigm is referred to as lithomimetics and it is demonstrated that some of the patterns found in the lithosphere can be emulated by established processes of severe plastic deformation. This opens up interesting avenues for materials design in which potentially promising structural patterns are borrowed from the lithosphere's repository. The key aim here is to promulgate the “lithomimetics” paradigm as a promising approach to developing novel architectured materials. A novel lithomimetic approach is proposed, which entails mimicking structures and processes occurring in the Earth's lithosphere to produce man‐made advanced materials. Severe plastic deformation is considered as a viable vehicle for that.