A mantis shrimp.

Inspired by the fist-like club of the mantis shrimp, a team of researchers, led by David Kisailus, an associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of California (UC), Riverside, in collaboration with University of Southern California and Purdue University, developed a design structure for composite materials that is more impact resistant and tougher than the standard currently used in airplanes.

Kisailus and his team of researchers are interested in the club because of its strength: It can strike prey thousands of times without breaking. The force created by the impact of the mantis shrimp's club is more than 1,000 times its own weight. It's so powerful that Kisailus keeps the animals in a special aquarium in his lab so they dont break the glass.

Underwater, the fist-like club accelerates faster than a 22-calibur bullet. This acceleration creates cavitation--the formation of liquid-free zones in a liquid--bubbles that implode, creating a secondary impact on prey.

In 2012, Kisailus and a team of researchers discovered that the club is made up of several sections including an endocuticle section. The endocuticle section is characterized by a spiraling arrangement of mineralized fiber layers that act as a shock absorber. Each layer is rotated by a small angle from the layer below to eventually complete a 180-degree rotation.

Recently, the researchers published a paper detailing how they applied the spiraled--or helicoidal--layered design when creating carbon fiber-epoxy composites. Composites with this design structure could be used for a variety of applications including aerospace and automotive frames, body armor and football helmets.

This research was funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation (grant DMR 09-06770, "Structure-function analysis of an ultra-hard biological composite").

Read more at:http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/mmg_disp.jsp?med_id=77589&from=

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