MIMICRY OF NATURAL MATERIAL DESIGNS AND PROCESSES

Biological structural materials, although composed of unremarkable sub stances synthesized at low temperatures, often exhibit superior mechan ical properties. In particular, the quality in which nearly all biolog ically derived materials excel is toughness. The advantageous mechanic al properties are attributable to the hierarchical, composite, structu ral arrangements common to biological systems. Materials scientists an d engineers have increasingly recognized that biological designs or pr ocessing approaches applied to man-made materials (biomimesis) may off er improvements in performance over conventional designs and fabricati on methods. In this survey, the structures and processing routes of ma rine shells, avian eggshells, wood, bone, and insect cuticle are brief ly reviewed, and biomimesis research inspired by these materials is di scussed. In addition, this paper describes and summarizes the applicat ions of biomineralization, self-assembly, and templating with proteins to the fabrication of thin ceramic films and nanostructure devices.