Interfacial Fracture Toughness of Nacre

  • Reza Rabiei
  • Ahmad Khayer Dastjerdi
  • Francois Barthelat
Conference paper
First Online:
Part of the Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series book series (CPSEMS)

Abstract

Nacre is a natural mineralized composite which is made of 95% aragonite yet is three orders of magnitude tougher than its main ingredient. Extensive research has recently been devoted to identifying the toughening mechanisms in nacre, among which the toughness of the organic component has been claimed to have the most significant impact on the overall toughness. In this study, interlaminar fracture toughness of nacre from three different species, namely red abalone, pearl oyster and top shell, is measured and reported using chevron notch fracture technique. Among the three seashells, top shell exhibits outstanding levels of interlaminar toughness which is even comparable to the values across the tablet layers. Analysis of the experimental data from top shell suggests that the intrinsic toughness of the organic glue accounts for only about 3% of the overall interface toughness, whereas the main contribution to the toughness originates from a multitude of extrinsic toughening mechanisms including ligament bridging, crack deflection, and process zone effect. While the same is true for the other two shells, the toughening mechanisms are less pronounced. This finding clearly emphasizes the role of the microstructure on the overall material properties.

Keywords

Nacre Fracture toughness Organic interface Chevron notch fracture test 
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Notes

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies.

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Copyright information

© The Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc. 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Reza Rabiei
    • 1
  • Ahmad Khayer Dastjerdi
    • 1
  • Francois Barthelat
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Mechanical EngineeringMcGill UniversityMontrealCanada

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