Investigation into biomaterial inspired structures using 4D x-ray computed tomography to analyse material failure mode and damage propagation for pote

Since the origins of life 3.8 billion years ago Darwinian natural selection has iteratively honed and refined adaptations that have resulted in a multitude of solutions enabling life to thrive. The processes that impact and drive evolution through natural selection are analogous to the research-led iterative engineering design that underpins the development of manufactured materials. This project will explore the natural world for biomaterials (especially bone) that can inform the development of new materials and structures that might translate to novel solutions to manufactured materials and processes. This approach is founded in the field of biomimetics, a term coined by Otto Schmitt in the 1950s, but in the light of new imaging techniques and technology that has greater potential today to achieve some of the field's primary goals. A key primary goal being the transfer of ideas and analogues from biology to technology.
Bone strength is, in part, dependent on a mechanical input that regulates the (re)modelling of skeletal elements to an appropriate size and architecture to resist fracture during habitual use. This mechano-adaptation ensures that optimum bone mass and architecture are attained by the modelling and remodelling processes during growth. One thing is very clear, there is little work that has been undertaken on the strength of bone in different species (most work has focused upon humans, dogs and horses) and also if this corelates to structure and/or physical/mechanical properties. Using X-ray microCT we can potentially explore this question and test the strength and behaviour of biomaterials.
We also aim to analyse biomaterials from the fossil record, so that we can image and characterise their properties, which have evolved and adapted to function in some of the most extreme biomechanical environments. Material will include delicate pterosaur bones to the enormous vertebrae of sauropod dinosaurs.