The cuticle of a maggot goes through a mechanical transition when it dries, increasing in stiffness by about an order of magnitude (e. g. from 0.5 GPa to 5 GPa) as the water content drops from about 1 g/g (weight of water per unit dry weight) to 0.4 g/g. Thus stiffness represents the loss of freezable water and is more or less diagnostic of a material stabilized by hydrogen bonds. Further loss in water results in a smaller increase in stiffness. In natural systems the water content is controlled by the addition of phenolic residues, resulting in tanning or sclerotisation, which drives the matrix components towards co-operative interaction and makes the material permanently waterproof.
展开▼
机译：got的角质层在干燥时会经历机械转变，当水含量从约1 g / g（每单位干燥的水的重量）下降时，其刚度会增加大约一个数量级（例如，从0.5 GPa到5 GPa）。重量）至0.4克/克。因此，刚度代表了可冻结水的损失，并且或多或少地诊断了通过氢键稳定的材料。水分的进一步损失导致刚度的较小增加。在天然系统中，水的含量是通过添加酚类残留物来控制的，从而导致鞣制或硬化，从而驱使基质组分进行协同作用，并使材料永久防水。
展开▼
