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Fracture mechanisms of the Strombus gigas conch shell: implications for the design of brittle laminates

Fracture mechanisms of the Strombus gigas conch shell: implications for the design of brittle laminates
Fracture mechanisms of the Strombus gigas conch shell: implications for the design of brittle laminates
Flexural strength, crack-density evolution, work of fracture, and critical strain energy release rates were measured for wet and dry specimens of the Strombus gigas conch shell. This shell has a crossed-lamellar microarchitecture, which is layered at five distinct length scales and can be considered a form of ceramic plywood. The shell has a particularly high ceramic (mineral) content (99.9 wt%), yet achieves unusually good mechanical performance. Even though the strengths are modest (of the order 100 MPa), the laminated structure has a large strain to fracture, and a correspondingly large work of fracture, up to 13 kJ m–2. The large fracture resistance is correlated to the extensive microcracking that occurs along the numerous interfaces within the shell microstructure. Implications of this impressive work of fracture for design of brittle laminates are considered.
0022-2461
6583-6594
Kuhn-Spearing, L.T.
c6347a91-29f3-4b65-9c4f-fbc65d10bc2c
Kessler, H.
4acf023d-741a-49cf-bef9-47498bbd4f9c
Chateau, E.
3d8008f2-4b2a-4e0d-bfe9-6cc165ae5122
Ballarini, R.
37699b6f-ec68-4552-910a-26bf8d4b8610
Heuer, A.H.
965329a0-8537-4dcb-91ba-2beba2bfc82e
Spearing, S.M.
9e56a7b3-e0e8-47b1-a6b4-db676ed3c17a
Kuhn-Spearing, L.T.
c6347a91-29f3-4b65-9c4f-fbc65d10bc2c
Kessler, H.
4acf023d-741a-49cf-bef9-47498bbd4f9c
Chateau, E.
3d8008f2-4b2a-4e0d-bfe9-6cc165ae5122
Ballarini, R.
37699b6f-ec68-4552-910a-26bf8d4b8610
Heuer, A.H.
965329a0-8537-4dcb-91ba-2beba2bfc82e
Spearing, S.M.
9e56a7b3-e0e8-47b1-a6b4-db676ed3c17a

Kuhn-Spearing, L.T., Kessler, H., Chateau, E., Ballarini, R., Heuer, A.H. and Spearing, S.M. (1996) Fracture mechanisms of the Strombus gigas conch shell: implications for the design of brittle laminates. Journal of Materials Science, 31 (24), 6583-6594. (doi:10.1007/BF00356266).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Flexural strength, crack-density evolution, work of fracture, and critical strain energy release rates were measured for wet and dry specimens of the Strombus gigas conch shell. This shell has a crossed-lamellar microarchitecture, which is layered at five distinct length scales and can be considered a form of ceramic plywood. The shell has a particularly high ceramic (mineral) content (99.9 wt%), yet achieves unusually good mechanical performance. Even though the strengths are modest (of the order 100 MPa), the laminated structure has a large strain to fracture, and a correspondingly large work of fracture, up to 13 kJ m–2. The large fracture resistance is correlated to the extensive microcracking that occurs along the numerous interfaces within the shell microstructure. Implications of this impressive work of fracture for design of brittle laminates are considered.

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Published date: 1996

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 23094
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/23094
ISSN: 0022-2461
PURE UUID: 6d2e9096-5100-4420-9162-f5d390cb7fc8
ORCID for S.M. Spearing: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3059-2014

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Date deposited: 31 Jan 2007
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:37

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Contributors

Author: L.T. Kuhn-Spearing
Author: H. Kessler
Author: E. Chateau
Author: R. Ballarini
Author: A.H. Heuer
Author: S.M. Spearing ORCID iD

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