| Abstract Scope |
Organisms construct a variety of biological materials for different purposes, such as protection, predation, body support, and camouflage. Many of these materials are mineralized, where calcite, a polymorph of calcium carbonate, is one of the common candidate minerals. Even though pure calcite is considered to have poor intrinsic mechanical properties, such as easy cleavage and softness, calcitic biological materials are often able to achieve enhanced mechanical properties. In addition, many of them offer additional functionalities simultaneously, such as low density, coloration, transparency, visual sensitivity, etc. In this talk, I will present our work in elucidating the hierarchical structure, multiscale mechanical and functional properties, and formation mechanisms in the biogenic calcite material systems from some selected organisms, including mollusks, echinoderms, avian eggshells, and others. I hope this talk can stimulate more discussions among research areas such as material science, biomimetics, biology, engineering, and manufacturing. |