About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Biological Materials Science
|
| Presentation Title |
Structural and Crystallographic Analyses of Spherulitic Biominerals in Eggshells |
| Author(s) |
Pin-Rui Huang, Chang-Yu Sun |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Pin-Rui Huang |
| Abstract Scope |
Hard mineralized eggshells are primarily crystalline calcium carbonate, providing important embryonic protection for diverse oviparous species including birds, crocodilians, and some other reptiles. While most taxa produce calcite eggshells, testudines uniquely form aragonite. Morphological characterization showed that both polymorphs in eggshells form radial polycrystalline aggregates, known as spherulites. Previous work on coral skeletons demonstrated that aragonite spherulites display a characteristic distribution of c-axes misorientation, a feature proposed to offer additional mechanical toughness. In this study, we analyze the microstructures and textures of eggshell biominerals to understand how polymorphs influence spherulitic arrangements and formation. We compare crystal orientations and their developments along the thickness in calcitic and aragonitic eggshells and summarize different patterns. Grain size and grain boundary angles are further correlated with the multiscale mechanical performances of the eggshells, providing implications to the functional roles of eggshell biominerals as well as insights into spherulitic growth and crystal engineering. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Biomaterials, Characterization, Composites |