title: Influence of initial flaws on the mechanical properties of nacre.
abstract: Nacre is a bio-composite made up of hard mineral and soft protein, and has excellent mechanical properties. This paper examines the effect of naturally occurring defects (initial flaws) in nacre on its mechanical properties such as toughness and strength. A random fuse model is developed incorporating initial flaws. Numerical simulations show that initial flaws affect different mechanical properties at different rates. The variation in the experimentally obtained mechanical properties of nacre reported in the literature is shown to be due to initial flaws. The stress in the mineral and protein increases due to initial flaws, but by different amounts. The results obtained in this study are useful for gaining insight into the failure of nacre and development of nacre-inspired composites.
authors: Indian Institute of Space science and Technology (IIST), Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram 695547, India. Electronic address: anupiist@gmail.com.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Anup
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D008903:Minerals / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D060734:Nacre / Q000378:metabolism; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
chemical_list: D008903:Minerals; D060734:Nacre; D011506:Proteins
keywords: Biocomposite; Defect; Mechanical properties; Nacre; Random fuse model