Structural and Mechanical Characterization of Thermally Treated Conch Shells

Abstract

Seashells are natural nanocomposite armors with an exceptional combination of strength and toughness. Conch shells have a crossed-lamellar structure constructed with aragonite and biopolymer. Thermal treatment uncovered a nanoscale hierarchical structure in shell’s third-order lamellae. Individual third-order lamellae were found to consist of aragonite nanoparticles cemented with biopolymer. The biopolymer renders conch shells joint increase in strength, ductility and fracture energy, and especially the fracture energy increase is more remarkable. The shell’s aragonite transformed to calcite at 407°C and lime at 607°C. The shell’s biopolymer was burned out in the thermal treatment at 310°C, leading to 1.7% mass loss. The crossed-lamellar structure remained in the 500°C thermally treated shell. The 900°C heat treatment destroyed the crossed-lamellar architecture completely. Thermal treatment resulted in reduction in mechanical properties due to the joint effects—burning out of biopolymer, phase transformation, and destruction of structural integrity. The findings advance our understanding of conch shell’s architecture and provide new guidelines for the design and manufacturing of bio-inspired materials.