title: Damage-tolerance strategies for nacre tablets.
abstract: Nacre, a natural armor, exhibits prominent penetration resistance against predatory attacks. Unraveling its hierarchical toughening mechanisms and damage-tolerance design strategies may provide significant inspiration for the pursuit of high-performance artificial armors. In this work, relationships between the structure and mechanical performance of nacre were investigated. The results show that other than their brick-and-mortar structure, individual nacre tablets significantly contribute to the damage localization of nacre. Affected by intracrystalline organics, the tablets exhibit a unique fracture behavior. The synergistic action of the nanoscale deformation mechanisms increases the energy dissipation efficiency of the tablets and contributes to the preservation of the structural and functional integrity of the shell.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Shengnan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Xinqiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Qiyang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Rizhi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China. Electronic address: msewangxx@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoxiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D060105:Animal Shells / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D008422:Materials Testing; D060734:Nacre / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D049911:Pinctada / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D060734:Nacre
keywords: Deformation; Energy dissipation; Intracrystalline organics; Nacre; Nanostructure