title: Microstructure and mechanical properties of sheep horn.
abstract: The sheep horn presents outstanding mechanical properties of impact resistance and energy absorption, which suits the need of the vehicle bumper design, but the mechanism behind this phenomenon is less investigated. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the sheep horn of Small Tailed Han Sheep (Ovis aries) living in northeast China were investigated in this article. The effect of sampling position and orientation of the sheep horn sheath on mechanical properties were researched by tensile and compression tests. Meanwhile, the surface morphology and microstructure of the sheep horn were observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The formation mechanism of the mechanical properties of the sheep horn was investigated by biological coupling analysis. The analytical results indicated that the outstanding mechanical properties of the sheep horn are determined by configuration, structure, surface morphology and material coupling elements. These biological coupling elements make the sheep horn possess super characteristics of crashworthiness and energy absorption through the internal coupling mechanism. We suppose that these findings would make a difference in vehicle bumper design. Microsc. Res. Tech. 79:664-674, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Automotive Simulation and Control, Jilin University, Changchun, 130022, People's Republic of China.|Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering of Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, 130022, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6068-4040
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Automotive Simulation and Control, Jilin University, Changchun, 130022, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Automotive Simulation and Control, Jilin University, Changchun, 130022, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002681:China; D006733:Horns / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D012756:Sheep / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D013718:Tensile Strength
keywords: biological coupling; mechanical properties; microstructure; sheep horn