Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T21:24:41.415Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hardness and elastic properties of dehydrated cuticle from the lobster Homarus americanus obtained by nanoindentation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2006

C. Sachs ,
H. Fabritius  and
D. Raabe
C. Sachs
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung, 40237 Düsseldorf, Germany
H. Fabritius
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung, 40237 Düsseldorf, Germany
D. Raabe*
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung, 40237 Düsseldorf, Germany
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: raabe@mpie.de
Get access

Abstract

The mechanical properties of biological materials are well adjusted to their function. An excellent example for such materials is the cuticle or exoskeleton of arthropods. In this study, dehydrated cuticle of the American lobster Homarus americanus was examined as a model for a mineralized biological composite material. Nanoindentation testing is a powerful method for revealing gradients and anisotropy in the hardness and the elastic properties of such materials. The air-dried test specimens stem from different parts of the crusher claw with different biological functions. Both the exocuticle and the endocuticle were probed in normal and in the transverse direction to the cuticle surface. For estimating variations in the grade of mineralization, the samples which were tested as cross-sections of the cuticle were analyzed by the use of energy dispersive x-ray mapping. The microstructure of fracture surfaces of the test specimens was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. Due to the use of dehydrated samples, our results do not reflect the exact properties of lobster cuticle in the natural hydrated state, but they can be regarded as a fairly good approximation to the in vivo state.

Keywords

BiologicalCompositeMicrostructure
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 21 , Issue 8 , August 2006 , pp. 1987 - 1995
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Vincent, J.F.V., Currey, J.D.: Mechanical Properties of Biological Materials (Society for Experimental Biology, Cambridge, UK, 1980).Google Scholar
2.Ashby, M.F., Wegst, U.G.K.: The mechanical efficiency of natural materials. Philos. Mag. 84, 2167 (2004).Google Scholar
3.Travis, D.F.: Structural features of mineralization from tissue to macromolecular levels of organization in the decapod Crustacea. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 109, 177 (1963).Google Scholar
4.Vernberg, F.J., Vernberg, W.B.: The Biology of Crustacea (Academic Press, New York, 1983).Google Scholar
5.Horst, M.N., Freeman, J.A.: The Crustacean Integument: Morphology and Biochemistry (CRC Press, Ann Arbor, MI, 1993).Google Scholar
6.Carpenter, K.E.: The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Atlantic, Vol. 1: Introduction, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Hagfishes, Sharks, Batoid Fishes, and Chimaeras. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes (American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 2002), pp. 1–600.Google Scholar
7.Meldrum, F.C.: Calcium carbonate in biomineralisation and biomimetic chemistry. Int. Mater. Rev. 48, 187 (2003).Google Scholar
8.Bouligand, Y.: Ultrastructural aspects of the calcification in crabs, in 7th Int. Congress of Electron Microscopy 3 (Grenoble, France, 1970), p. 105–106.Google Scholar
9.Giraud-Guille, M-M.: Plywood structures in nature. Curr. Opin. Solid State Mater. Sci. 3, 221 (1998).Google Scholar
10.Giraud-Guille, M-M.: Chitin crystals in arthropod cuticles revealed by diffraction contrast transmission electron microscopy. J. Struct. Biol. 103, 232 (1990).Google Scholar
11.Roer, R.D., Dillaman, R.M.: The structure and calcification of the crustacean cuticle. Am. Zool. 24, 893 (1984).Google Scholar
12.Giraud-Guille, M-M., Bouligand, Y. Crystal growth in a chitin matrix: The study of calcite development in the crab cuticle, in Chitin World edited by Karnicki, Z.S., Brzeski, M.M., Bykowski, P.J., and Wojtasz-Pajak, A. (Wirtschaftsverlag NW, Bremerhaven, Germany, 1995), pp. 136–144.Google Scholar
13.Manoli, F., Koutsopoulos, S., Dalas, E.: Crystallization of calcite on chitin. J. Cryst. Growth 182, 116 (1997).Google Scholar
14.Raabe, D., Romano, P., Sachs, C., Al-Sawalmih, A., Brokmeier, H-G., Yi, S-B., Servos, G., Hartwig, H.G.: Discovery of a honeycomb structure in the twisted plywood patterns of fibrous biological nanocomposite tissue. J. Cryst. Growth 283, 1 (2005).Google Scholar
15.Hadley, N.F.: The arthropod cuticle. Sci. Am. 255, 104112(1986).Google Scholar
16.Vincent, J.F.V.: Structural Biomaterials (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1990).Google Scholar
17.Vincent, J.F.V.: Arthropod cuticle: A natural composite shell system. Composites Part A 33, 1311 (2002).Google Scholar
18.Neville, A.C.: Biology of Fibrous Composites (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1993).Google Scholar
19.Vincent, J.F.V., Wegst, U.G.K.: Design and mechanical properties of insect cuticle. Arthropod Struct. Dev. 33, 187 (2004).Google Scholar
20.Raabe, D., Al-Sawalmih, A., Romano, P., Sachs, C., Brokmeier, H-G., Yi, S-B., Servos, G., and Hartwig, H.G.: Structure and crystallographic texture of arthropod bio-composites, in Proc. 14th Int. Conf. Text. Mater. ICOTOM 14, 1665 (2005).Google Scholar
21.Raabe, D., Romano, P., Sachs, C., Fabritius, H., Al-Sawalmih, A., Yi, S-B., Servos, G., Hartwig, H.G.: Microstructure and crystallographic texture of the chitin-protein network in the biological composite material of the exoskeleton of the lobster Homarus americanus. Mater. Sci. Eng., A 421,143–153(2006).Google Scholar
22.Raabe, D., Sachs, C., Romano, P.: The crustacean exoskeleton as an example of a structurally and mechanically graded biological nanocomposite material. Acta Mater. 53, 4281 (2005).Google Scholar
23.Oliver, W.C., Pharr, G.M.: An improved technique for determining the hardness and elastic modulus using the load and displacement sensing indentation experiments. J. Mater. Res. 7, 1564 (1992).Google Scholar
24.Fan, Z., Swadener, J.G., Rho, J.Y., Roy, M.E., Pharr, G.M.: Anisotropic properties of human tibial cortical bone as measured by nanoindentation. J. Orthop. Res. 20, 806 (2002).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25.Currey, J.D., Nash, A., Bonfield, W.: Calcified cuticle in the stomatopod smashing limb. J. Mater. Sci. 17, 1939 (1982).Google Scholar