A complex fish scale architecture that's impervious to piranha teeth could be mimicked to provide flexible composites with a hard ceramic surface for applications like body armor or prosthetics.
The architecture, revealed by a research team at the University of California, San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering, includes a very hard exterior and a tough but flexible interior and helps the scales resist razor-sharp piranha teeth.
The Amazonian Arapaima gigas fish is the only animal that lives in the same environment as piranhas and doesn't get eaten by them. Its scales, which can measure up to four inches long, combine a heavily mineralized outer layer with a layered internal structure made of stretchy protein material.
Arapaima gigas scales have a highly mineralized outside layer and an internal layer
of collagen fibers stacked in a "plywood" formation for maximum toughness.
(Source: Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California, San Diego)
The research team, led by Marc Meyers, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, set up a lab experiment to study the Arapaima scale. The experiment used a sensor-equipped machine that resembles an industrial-strength hole punch. The researchers mounted piranha teeth on the top part of the punch. On the bottom part, the team placed Arapaima scales embedded in a soft rubber surface to emulate the fish's soft, underlying muscle.
When the top part of the punch was pressed down into the scales, the piranha teeth partly penetrated the scales but cracked before they could puncture the rubber.
Well, I don't mean this in a bad way, but they're into somewhat unrealistic apocalyptic scenarios, like a total breakdown of government and social structure, failure of the worldwide economic system, and/or cataclysmic natural disasters. Basically, stuff that, no matter how much you prep, you're never prepped enough. (Or, when you emerge from your underground bunker, there's nothing left around you except radiation. Sorta like those "On The Beach" post-nuke novels of the late 1950s, earli 1960s.) Interesting show nevertheless; in spots though...watching it for long periods is a bit much. I can only take so many shots of food in Mason jars. Here's the link, but it crashed my browser: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/doomsday-preppers/
What sort of doomsday were the "Doomsday Preppers" trying to prepare for? Tornados of current F0 to F3 variety are talking winds of up to 206 miles per hour (mph) covers 99% of all tornados. The F4 and F5 tornados are rare but with winds 207 to 318 mph. I don't believe F6 tornados (with winds 319 to 379 mph) have ever been documented thus far.
The 500 mph board would need to be above F6, or from a weapon (a 2x4 cannon?). I would think scaled or rigid, the best defence would be layers of hard material separated by softer absorbing layers. Various types of layering would need to be explored depending upon the projectile being protected against. I understand some projectiles are very complex with splitting jeckets, secondary explosives, titanium darts, molten plasma being generated, etc.
Alternatively, "active armor" layers like classified military counter-explosive armor would probably be the ticket, but I am not an expert on such things.
David12345, I was watching a rerun last night of "Doomsday Preppers," where they were shooting wood 2x4s at 500 mph at a couple of doors to see if they could be breached. An the 2x4 penetrated an 8,000-lb, FEMA-compliant door. I wonder how a scaled type solution might work instead? Also interesting are the ceramic tiles they use beneath the armor on an Abrams tank, so when the shell penetrates the first metal coating it hits, the impact is dissipated by the ceramics before it can cut thru the final layer of metal.
Dr. Meyer's group has been doing all kinds of fascinating work on the mechanics of natural materials for the past several years. Dr. Meyers is known for an excellent textbook which he co-wrote with Dr. Krishan Chawla called Mechanical Behavior of Materials(originally titled Mechanical Metallurgy). Both he and Dr. Chawla are giants in the materials field. Dr. Chawla is known for his work on composites, especially ceramic-matrix composites.
It wasn't immediately obvious to me just how big this fish is (300 pounds), or how big its scales are (4 - 6 inches in diameter). Not exactly your average fish!
Understanding how nature arranges hard and soft materials to create tough structures can provide insights which can have applications in all sorts of fields, not just body armor.
Much soft body armor is good against softer bullets like lead from a handgun, but not so good against jacketed bullets, high-speed rifle bullets, teflon coated bullets, sharp fragment shrapnel, skinny pointed knives, and ice picks.
It sounds like this research of nature could indicate a refinement of the "ceramic scale type body armor" that could do better against these types of hazards. Cool.
Looks like some very interesting potential for composites use for heavy duty applications. I'm curious as to how the piranha-proof material holds up to things like bombs or bullets--more likely scenarios for when body armor is used than to protect against sharp teeth or knives.
What I really would like is to be a fly on the wall of the testing facility when they some day put the manmade composite material to the test using live piranhas instead of just their teeth. It could get ugly!
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
The government wants to study your brain, and DARPA wants to use similar information to give robots true autonomy beyond any artificial intelligence developed to date. Sound like science fiction? It's not.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
7 
