Natural stiffening increases flaw tolerance of biological fibers
Many fibers in biomaterials such as tendon, elastin, or silk feature a nonlinear stiffening behavior of the stress-strain relationship, where the rigidity of the material increases severely as the material is being stretched. Here we show that such nonlinear stiffening is beneficial for a fiber'...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Physical Society
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/76181 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4173-9659 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6601-9199 |
| _version_ | 1811070274179694592 |
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| author | Giesa, Tristan Pugno, Nicola M. Buehler, Markus J |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Computational Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Computational Engineering Giesa, Tristan Pugno, Nicola M. Buehler, Markus J |
| author_sort | Giesa, Tristan |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Many fibers in biomaterials such as tendon, elastin, or silk feature a nonlinear stiffening behavior of the stress-strain relationship, where the rigidity of the material increases severely as the material is being stretched. Here we show that such nonlinear stiffening is beneficial for a fiber's ability to withstand cracks, leading to a flaw tolerant state in which stress concentrations around cracks are diminished. Our findings, established by molecular mechanics and the derivation of a theoretical scaling law, explain experimentally observed fiber sizes in a range of biomaterials and point to the importance of nonlinear stiffening to enhance their fracture properties. Our study suggests that nonlinear stiffening provides a mechanism by which nanoscale mechanical properties can be scaled up, providing a means towards bioinspired fibrous material and structural design. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:33:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/76181 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:33:52Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/761812022-09-30T09:36:58Z Natural stiffening increases flaw tolerance of biological fibers Giesa, Tristan Pugno, Nicola M. Buehler, Markus J Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Computational Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Atomistic and Molecular Mechanics Giesa, Tristan Buehler, Markus J. Many fibers in biomaterials such as tendon, elastin, or silk feature a nonlinear stiffening behavior of the stress-strain relationship, where the rigidity of the material increases severely as the material is being stretched. Here we show that such nonlinear stiffening is beneficial for a fiber's ability to withstand cracks, leading to a flaw tolerant state in which stress concentrations around cracks are diminished. Our findings, established by molecular mechanics and the derivation of a theoretical scaling law, explain experimentally observed fiber sizes in a range of biomaterials and point to the importance of nonlinear stiffening to enhance their fracture properties. Our study suggests that nonlinear stiffening provides a mechanism by which nanoscale mechanical properties can be scaled up, providing a means towards bioinspired fibrous material and structural design. United States. Office of Naval Research. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (N000141010562) MITOR Project 2013-01-07T21:55:20Z 2013-01-07T21:55:20Z 2012-10 2012-06 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1539-3755 1550-2376 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/76181 Giesa, Tristan, Nicola Pugno, and Markus J. Buehler. “Natural Stiffening Increases Flaw Tolerance of Biological Fibers.” Physical Review E 86.4 (2012). © 2012 American Physical Society https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4173-9659 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6601-9199 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.86.041902 Physical Review E Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Physical Society APS |
| spellingShingle | Giesa, Tristan Pugno, Nicola M. Buehler, Markus J Natural stiffening increases flaw tolerance of biological fibers |
| title | Natural stiffening increases flaw tolerance of biological fibers |
| title_full | Natural stiffening increases flaw tolerance of biological fibers |
| title_fullStr | Natural stiffening increases flaw tolerance of biological fibers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Natural stiffening increases flaw tolerance of biological fibers |
| title_short | Natural stiffening increases flaw tolerance of biological fibers |
| title_sort | natural stiffening increases flaw tolerance of biological fibers |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/76181 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4173-9659 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6601-9199 |
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