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Environmentally-controlled Microtensile Testing of Mechanically-adaptive Polymer Nanocomposites for ex vivo Characterization

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Bioinspired Polymer Systems with Stimuli-Responsive Mechanical Properties.

Lucas Montero de Espinosa¹, Worarin Meesorn¹, Dafni Moatsou¹

¹Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg , Chemin des Verdiers 4, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.

Chemical Reviews

|July 29, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Nature

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Area of Science:

Materials Science
Bioinspired Engineering
Mechanics

Background:

Biological materials exhibit switchable mechanical properties crucial for survival, often utilizing hierarchical structures.
These natural systems demonstrate responsive behavior through environmental cues triggering structural or connectivity changes.

Purpose of the Study:

To review the state of research in bioinspired materials with switchable mechanical properties.
To highlight the biomimetic approaches for creating artificial materials that mimic natural responsive behaviors.

Main Methods:

Literature review of recent advancements in bioinspired materials.
Analysis of operating principles in natural and artificial mechanically morphing materials.

Main Results:

Significant growth in bioinspired materials research over the past two decades.
Development of artificial materials capable of reversibly altering stiffness, shape, porosity, density, or hardness.

Conclusions:

Mimicking biological hierarchical structures and operating principles is key to developing advanced responsive materials.
Artificial materials inspired by nature offer tunable mechanical properties without significant compositional changes.