How Nature Modulates A Fiber's Mechanical Properties: Mechanically Distinct Fibers Drawn From Natural Mesogenic Block Copolymer Variants

摘要

Engineered devices are often assembled from polymeric materials with dissimilar mechanical properties. At present, most such materials are adhesively bonded along a common interface. An abrupt mismatch in modulus, however, can lead to increased contact damage and delamination of one material from the other. Modulus mismatch is often mitigated by engineering interfaces with incremental as opposed to abrupt transitions in stiffness, however, most of this technology is still at an early stage of development. In contrast, nature's use of gradients at interfaces between load-bearing biological materials is highly sophisticated, as showcased in teeth, tendon-bone interfaces, and squid beaks, and offers significant insights into the design of nanoscale mechanical gradients.