Compared to metal and polymer-based materials, ceramics can better withstand high temperatures and corrosive environments, but their brittle nature often makes them susceptible to breakage. This behavior potentially causes ...
Facing the challenging task of developing lightweight, high-strength ceramic materials, Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Ling Li has turned to an unexpected collaborator for design inspiration: the knobby starfish from the tropical Indo-Pacific. By investigating the complex and highly ordered mineralized skeletal system of this unusual marine species, Li and his research team discovered an unexpected combination of characteristics that may lead to developing an entirely new class of high-performance lightweight ceramic composites. Science magazine featured their findings in a recent cover story.
Going light by going porous
Industries such as those in automobile and aerospace manufacturing have a strong interest in designing both strong and lightweight materials, combining the economy of better fuel efficiencies with strength. Industries find this balance difficult to strike, since stronger materials commonly possess high densities, and thus weigh more.
Nature, through millions of years of evolution, has come up with an ingenious way of solving this problem: using porous materials. The introduction of internal porosity potentially creates both extremely lightweight and mechanically efficient materials.
Ling Li with a starfish skeleton and 3D-printed scale models. Credit: Alex Parrish for Virginia Tech
Scanning electron microscopic image showing the starfish skeletal system composed of many ossicles, which exhibit a periodic microlattice structure. Credit: Ling Li (Virginia Tech)