Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 4 No. 4 Winter 2019 | Page 8

08
14
COVER
STORY
Mollusk's unique armor system
leads to light, flexible, strong
bio-inspired, 3D-printed scales
We studied this
biological material
in a very detailed
way. We quanti-
fied its internal
micro-structure,
chemical composi-
tion, nano-mechan-
ical properties, and
three-dimensional
geometry.
ROSAIRE
BUSHEY
MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING
Assistant Professor Ling Li
The motivations for using biology as inspira-
tion for engineering vary based on the project,
but for Ling Li, assistant professor of mechanical
engineering, the combination of flexibility and
protection seen in the chiton mollusk was all the
motivation necessary.
“The system we’ve developed is based on the
chiton which has a unique biological armor
system,” Li said. “Most mollusks have a single
rigid shell, such as the abalone, or two shells,
such as clams. But the chiton has eight mineral-
ized plates covering the top of the creature and
around its base it has a girdle of very small scales
assembled like fish scales, that provide flexibility
as well as protection.”
Li’s work, which was featured in the journal
Nature Communications Dec. 10, is the result
of a collaboration with researchers from insti-
tutions including the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
at the Harvard Medical School, California State
University, Fullerton, the Max Planck Institute
of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany, and the
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engi-
neering at Harvard University, and with help
from Reza Mirzaeifar, assistant professor of
mechanical engineering.