Extreme strength observed in limpet teeth

Journal article

Barber, AH, Lu, D and Pugno, NM (2015). Extreme strength observed in limpet teeth. Journal of The Royal Society Interface. 12 (105), pp. 20141326-20141326. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1326
AuthorsBarber, AH, Lu, D and Pugno, NM
Abstract

The teeth of limpets exploit distinctive composite nanostructures consisting of high volume fractions of reinforcing goethite nanofibres within a softer protein phase to provide mechanical integrity when rasping over rock surfaces during feeding. The tensile strength of discrete volumes of limpet tooth material measured using in situ atomic force microscopy was found to range from 3.0 to 6.5 GPa and was independent of sample size. These observations highlight an absolute material tensile strength that is the highest recorded for a biological material, outperforming the high strength of spider silk currently considered to be the strongest natural material, and approaching values comparable to those of the strongest man-made fibres. This considerable tensile strength of limpet teeth is attributed to a high mineral volume fraction of reinforcing goethite nanofibres with diameters below a defect-controlled critical size, suggesting that natural design in limpet teeth is optimized towards theoretical strength limits.

KeywordsMD Multidisciplinary; General Science & Technology
Year2015
JournalJournal of The Royal Society Interface
Journal citation12 (105), pp. 20141326-20141326
ISSN1742-5689
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1326
Publication dates
Print18 Feb 2015
Publication process dates
Deposited20 Aug 2018
Accepted18 Feb 2015
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