Anti-wear properties of the molluscan shell Scapharca subcrenata: Influence of surface morphology, structure and organic material on the elementary wear process

摘要

As a typical natural biologicalmineralisationmaterial,molluscan shells have excellentwear-resistance properties that result from the interactions amongst biological coupling elements such as morphology, structure andmaterial. The in-depth study of thewear-resistance performance of shells and the contribution made by each coupling elementmay help to promote the development of new bionic wear-resistant devices. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of surface morphology (rib distribution on the shell), structure (rib coupledwith nodules) and material (organic matter) on the anti-wear performance of the molluscan Scapharca subcrenata shell. The effect and contribution of each of these biological coupling elements were systematically investigated using the comparative experiment method. All three were found to exert significant effects on the shell's wearresistance ability, and their individual contributions to that ability were revealed. Organic material can be classified as the principal coupling element, ribmorphology as the secondary coupling element and the combined ribnodule structure as the general coupling element.