Wednesday, April 25, 2012
BIO-INSPIRED MATERIALS post by Winston Becker
There has been some talk of where many of the advances in
materials will come from in the future. One solution that is beginning to
become popular is nature. Nature may provide a source of inspiration to solve
many important engineering problems. The functionality of many biological
systems is currently unmatched by engineers. For example, dragonflies can fly
up, down, forward, back, and side to side. These insects demonstrate amazing
control, maneuverability, and efficiency. They also have amazing connective
tissue that allows their wings to perform the functions necessary for flight.
This type of material could have many different applications. Another example
is the bombardier beetle, which releases a combination of boiling chemicals on
their predators. A third example is spider webs. Spiders actually produce two
different materials when they make spider webs. One material is stiffer and
provides structural support to the web. The other material is more viscoelastic
which allows it to absorb energy when bugs make impact. Similar examples can be
found throughout nature. Recently the phenomenal capabilities of biological
materials have become particularly interesting to many engineers. One interesting
component of this research is the contrasting approaches used by nature and engineers.
Engineers usually use a top down approach to find solutions to design problems.
In contrast, nature uses a bottom up approach to build materials. This has
result in unbelievable materials that could have very important engineering
applications. It is possible that many future advances in materials science
will be in the field of bio-inspired materials. If we can learn how to create
materials that mimic the amazing behavior of natural materials (such as the
components of the structures listed above) then we might be able to solve
problems in many different fields.
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I agree completely with this approach. One reason I chose to be an engineer is because I find the natural solutions to problems so interesting. Nature has so many hidden gems that we have yet to discover it is almost inconceivable. However, the problem biggest problem with trying to match nature piece by piece is the processing of materials. Where nature builds a wing from a single cell piece by piece, we cannot do the same. If we are able to control growth, only then will we be able to completely mimic nature. However, as I have said in many other comments, this approach of "growing nature" seems like something out of a Mary Shelley novel. And thus the ethic debates start.
ReplyDeleteI suppose one could get into the ethical part of this by arguing for animal rights and how their treated. Right now the easiest way to obtain tissues and such is by killing the organism and taking it, but in the future it may be possible to grow things from a small sample. I saw a video recently of a guy who had 3rd degree burns. Doctors took a small sample of skin from somewhere else on his body and grew millions of cells in a lab so they could put them in a spray gun to 'blow' them onto his burns. Kind of like spray painting a layer of skin on.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your fascination about designs in nature. While reading your blog, I thought of the honeycomb pattern formed by bees and how structurally sound the honeycomb is. Years ago, I was told we unknowingly structured computers after our own nervous system.
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