In nature, tardigrades have always been the most tenacious creatures in everyone's heart. They are not afraid of either 150 °C or -100 °C, nor are they afraid of deadly doses of radiation and terrifying pressure.
However, the tardigrade has a fatal weakness, that is, the most basic survival ability is relatively weak. If you see a tardigrade, you can crush it to death with just two fingers. In this regard, the tardigrade really has to learn from our protagonist today, which is a beetle called Phloeodes diabolicus.
This beetle lives mainly in the deserts of southwestern North America and is also known as the diabolical ironclad beetle. Their body length is generally only more than one centimeter, like a piece of bark or stone, which is also the shape they have evolved in disguise as their habitat.
Don't look at its appearance, but just like the name, its body is indeed like iron, very hard. Not to mention that an adult stepping on it will not cause it harm, even if an ordinary car runs over, the demon iron beetle is still alive and well, as if nothing has happened, which is one of the hardest materials scientists have found in nature so far.
David Kisailus, a materials scientist at the University of California, Irvine, said: "The iron beetle is a terrestrial beetle, so their bodies are not so light and agile, but more like a mini tank." This is its adaptation to the environment, since it can't fly, it is better to stay on the ground and use its carefully designed armor to crush people until the predators leave in sorrow. ”
Kisailus was so interested in the strength of the iron ingot beetle that he captured many samples in California and brought them back to the lab for study.
First, he and his team tested its armor using steel plates to simulate external pressure, and then compared it to other beetles living in the same area. These beetles not only live in the same environment, but their natural enemies are basically the same, that is, woodpeckers, and the same strategy they adopt when they are preyed upon, that is, pretending to die. Therefore, this contrast can be a very direct reflection of the hardness of the beetle shell.
The results showed that the average pressure limit that other beetles could withstand was about 68 Newtons. In contrast, the Iron Ingot Beetle is capable of withstanding more than 149 Newtons of force. You know, this force is converted into weight, which is 39,000 times its own! Think about it, if you have 39,000 of yourself on your body...
After confirming the amazing endurance of the iron ingot beetles, the next task is to understand why they have such amazing physical properties. To this end, the research team used spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and CT scans to analyze the beetle, and also carried out simulations, as well as 3D printing technology to verify their theory.
They found that the elytra of the iron ingot beetle played an important role when subjected to great stress. Elytra is a completely forewing that is very hard for those flying beetles, and the elytra protects their fragile hindwings and back for flying. For the iron beetles, their elytra are harder, locked together along the seams, like airtight armor.
Studies have shown that the main components of this exoskeleton structure are chitin (also known as chitin), a fibrous material synthesized from glucose, and matrix protein matrix. They further compared the elytra composition of the iron beetle with other beetles, and found that the former's elytra contained more protein, 1.1 times that of other beetles, perhaps as a means of increasing strength.
More importantly, the role of the interconnected elytra in increasing strength. Pablo Zavattieri, a materials scientist at Purdue University, said: "Its sutures are like a puzzle puzzle, and the pieces of the puzzle it connects are the individual exoskeleton blades under the elytra. ”
Next, the research team observed how these interlocking structures change under pressure and found something interesting. According to common sense, the microstructure of these exoskeleton leaves will be torn apart. But the reality is that they have layered parallel cracks, also known as stratification.
This is because the iron beetles have a tiny hair-like structure called micro-spines, and their presence effectively increases the friction, so that the interlocking structure can be well prevented from peeling under pressure. These functions are superimposed so that the elytra of the iron beetle can undergo a softer deformation under pressure, thereby spreading out the received energy evenly, thus preventing the local location from being too stressed and causing fracture and eventual death.
Kisailus describes: "When you want to destroy a puzzle, you usually choose the 'neck', which is the most vulnerable place to start. But we don't see this deadly rupture in the iron beetle, on the contrary, its stratification gives its own body structure a more dignified way of failing. ”
Such a discovery is very meaningful, because with the development of science and technology, we increasingly need high-strength structures to meet the needs of some high-tech equipment. To improve the strength of the structure, on the one hand, it can start from the nature of the material itself, on the other hand, it is achieved through such a special structure. Humans have learned the wisdom of nature from animals and plants more than once, and now it is also a perfect opportunity to learn about nature's magic.
If this technology can be mastered by us, it can be used to make safer aircraft engines, and the current way aircraft engines are fixed has added a lot of structural stresses that we don't want, which is a huge challenge for the life of the engine.
The researchers used the stitching method they learned from the iron ingot beetle to create a new aircraft engine fastener using carbon fiber materials. As a result, after the loading test, the new fasteners showed even better performance. The other engineering joints they made according to this method are also better than the traditional structure.
In the future, this structure may also be applied in many fields such as aerospace and deep-sea exploration.
Although human technology has developed to this day, it thinks that it has cracked many of nature's secrets. But I have to admit that there is still a lot more we need to learn from nature. Don't mention the universe, even if you just understand all the scientific principles that exist on the earth, human technology will be extremely powerful!