Skip to main content

The Growth and Mechanical Properties of Abalone Nacre Mesolayer

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Mechanics of Biological Systems and Materials, Volume 6

Abstract

Abalone nacre has long been interesting to material engineers due to its fascinating structure and outstanding mechanical behavior. It is a self-organized biogenic mineral composite which has a hierarchical architecture composite. The main component of this structure is “block and mortar” like tablets. Between the tablets structures is a layered structure which consist of both organic and inorganic parts called mesolayer. This research focus on the growth behavior of the mesolayer structure and its mechanical influence on nacre. Fresh-grown nacre is harvested by the “flat pearl” technique under different temperature schemes. SEM observation of those nacre reveals temperature scheme will inhibits the growth of tablets structure, and form other layered structure. The mechanical property of harvested “flat pearl” is tested by nano-indentation. In this work, we aim to show the mechanic significance of mesolayer in nacre structure, and hope to establish its strengthening and growth mechanism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Heinemann, F., Launspach, M., Gries, K., Fritz, M.: Gastropod nacre: structure, properties and growth — biological, chemical and physical basics. Biophys. Chem. 153, 126–153 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhang, X., Fan, Z., Lu, Q., Huang, Y., Kaplan, D.L., Zhu, H.: Hierarchical biomineralization of calcium carbonate regulated by silk microspheres. Acta Biomater. 9, 6974–6980 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Barthelat, F., Li, C.-M., Comi, C., Espinosa, H.D.: Mechanical properties of nacre constituents and their impact on mechanical performance. J. Mater. Res. 21, 1977–1986 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Zaremba, C.M., et al.: Critical transitions in the biofabrication of abalone shells and flat pearls. Chem. Mater. 8, 679–690 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Zhang, J., Zhang, Y., Xu, K., Ji, V.: Young’s modulus surface and Poisson’s ratio curve for orthorhombic crystals. J. Chem. Crystallogr. 38(10), 733–742 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Sullivan, M.A., Prorok, B.C.: Controlling abalone shell architecture with temperature. In: Mechanics of Biological Systems and Materials, vol. 7, pp. 27–31 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Zhou, B., Prorok, B.C.: A new paradigm in thin film indentation. J. Mater. Res. 25(09), 1671–1678 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Fritz, M., Belcher, A.M., Radmacher, M., Walters, D.A., Hansma, P.K., Stucky, G.D., Morse, D.E., Mann, S.: Flat pearls from biofabrication of organized composites on inorganic substrates. Nature 371(6492), 49–51 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barton C. Prorok .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc.

About this paper

Cite this paper

Zhang, A., Chen, Y., Sullivan, M., Prorok, B.C. (2017). The Growth and Mechanical Properties of Abalone Nacre Mesolayer. In: Korach, C., Tekalur, S., Zavattieri, P. (eds) Mechanics of Biological Systems and Materials, Volume 6. Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41351-8_20

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41351-8_20

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-41350-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-41351-8

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics