Biomimetic "super fish scales" are lighter than plastics, harder than enamel.
The piranha in the Amazon River has sharp teeth and fierce temperament, but can not help giant bony tongue fish, because the latter has a "dragon scale armor". Recently, Professor Yu Shuhong of the University of Science and Technology of China has studied this kind of "super-strong fish scale" in depth, and has developed a "light and tough" protective material for the first time and biomimetically using the "nano-screw brushing method".
Yu Shuhong's team's new approach, based on hydroxyapatite micro-nanofibers, combines the polymer sodium alginate, directional brushing and helical lamination to efficiently assemble biomimetic composites.
Mechanics experiments show that the new material has excellent properties: light as plastic, but harder than the hardest enamel in the human body. Conventional materials have straight cracks, which deflect, branch, and become more "energy-absorbing" and tougher.
source: Xinhua News Agency