Issue 20, 2012

Hierarchical structure and mechanical properties of nacre: a review

Abstract

Nacre (known as mother of pearl) is the iridescent inner shell layer of some mollusks. Nacre is composed of 95 wt% aragonite (a crystallographic form of CaCO3) and 5 wt% organic materials (proteins and polysaccharides). It is well known that it exhibits high fracture toughness, much greater than that of monolithic aragonite, because of its ingenious structure. It also exhibits energy absorption properties. It has a complex hierarchical microarchitecture that spans multiple length scales from the nanoscale to the macroscale. It includes columnar architectures and sheet tiles, mineral bridges, polygonal nanograins, nanoasperities, plastic microbuckling, crack deflection, and interlocking bricks, which exhibit a remarkable combination of stiffness, low weight and strength. Nacre's special self-assembly characteristics have attracted interest from materials scientists for the development of laminated composite materials, molecular scale self-assembly and biomineralization. This paper reviews the characteristics of hierarchical structure and the mechanical properties of nacre that provide the desired properties, and the latest developments and biomimetic applications.

Graphical abstract: Hierarchical structure and mechanical properties of nacre: a review

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
07 Feb 2012
Accepted
03 May 2012
First published
04 May 2012

RSC Adv., 2012,2, 7617-7632

Hierarchical structure and mechanical properties of nacre: a review

J. Sun and B. Bhushan, RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 7617 DOI: 10.1039/C2RA20218B

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