About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Biological Materials Science
|
| Presentation Title |
Micromechanical insights into the limpet tooth:
Unraveling the secrets behind Nature's strongest material |
| Author(s) |
Michael Wurmshuber, Jin-Kyung Kim, Jana Wilmers, Xiang-Long Peng, Yue Liu, Huajian Gao, Sang Ho Oh, Swantje Bargmann, Daniel Kiener, Mathias Göken |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Michael Wurmshuber |
| Abstract Scope |
Limpet teeth represent one of the strongest known biological materials, evolved to endure extreme mechanical loads while scraping algae from rock surfaces. Their unique microstructure features goethite (FeOOH) nanorods embedded in an amorphous silica matrix, forming a gradient from the leading to the trailing edge. In the leading region, nanorods are particularly fine and arranged in a rotation-aligned pattern, giving rise to an auxetic deformation response, i.e. a negative Poisson’s ratio. This study investigates the structure-property relationships underlying these exceptional properties through a range of micromechanical experiments. Nanotensile testing, micropillar compression, and sharp/spherical nanoindentation are used alongside fracture mechanical tests to probe both strength and toughness locally across the tooth. The findings reveal how nanocomposite architecture and auxeticity combine to achieve record biological strength and highlight concepts with potential for bioinspired material design. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Biomaterials, Mechanical Properties, |