Biomaterials For Small Tools

小型工具用生物材料

• 批准号: 1408933
• 负责人: Robert Schofield
• 金额: $ 45万
• 依托单位: University of Oregon Eugene
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1408933&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Biomaterials; Small; Tools

Nontechnical: This award by the Biomaterials Program in the Division of Materials Research to University of Oregon Eugene is to study the mechanical and material adaptations that have evolved in small organisms to cope with the scaling rule on the whole-tool, and at ultrastructural and molecular scales. When a farmer's harvesting tools get dull, they can be sharpened or replaced. However, these options are not available to many animals. They must rely on tools that are doomed to become less efficient with each use. This is especially problematic for small animals like spiders and insects that rely on the sharpness of their tools to overcome the force limitations associated with their size. It may be that the strange materials, containing up to 25% of zinc, iron, copper, manganese, iodine and bromine that are found in the teeth, jaws, claws and blades of many small animals have evolved to meet this challenge by reducing wear and fracture. This project will study the properties of these materials, with a detailed investigation of their composition. New understanding may be learned from these materials that have evolved in small organisms to meet their distinctive challenges associated with small-scale mechanical interactions. Furthermore, similar materials may find application in sharp tools such as medical devices (e.g. scalpels and miniature "robots"), atomic force microscopy tips, or in other applications that require hard but impact resistant materials. The project will provide great opportunities for research education because it is so interdisciplinary, combining methods from material science, biology, chemistry and physics. This research will be integrated with teaching and training graduate and undergraduate students in this interdisciplinary area.Technical: Sharper tools enable smaller animals (and small, force-limited machines) to cut and puncture the same materials as their larger and stronger counterparts. A mosquito and a lion both puncture the same skin, a sloth and a leaf cutter ant must both cut the same leaves. But as the tool radius gets smaller, the energy required to fracture the tool gets smaller and faster than the energy required to puncture the membrane with the tool, making fracture increasingly likely. The proposers will study the mechanical and material adaptations that have evolved in small organisms to cope with this scaling rule on the whole-tool, ultrastructural, and molecular scales. The proposed activity will: 1) test, for the first time, the mechanical properties of several Heavy Element Biomaterials (HEBs) used in mechanical structure in small animals; 2) test a novel scaling rule suggesting that smaller animals need more fracture resistant tools; 3) begin to test the novel hypothesis that heavy atoms can be used to lower molecular resonant frequencies and thereby damp the high frequency vibrations from impact; 4) test the hypothesis that variations in water binding are correlated with the balances of hardness and fracture resistance in HEBs; 5) test predictions of the balance of mechanical properties in particular HEBs, based on their locations in biological tools; and 6) test a specific zinc binding hypothesis. The researchers of this award will use tools that they have developed or will be developing for measuring mechanical properties of small specimens, as well as advanced chemical techniques such as Atom Probe Tomography. This project will provide research training in these cutting edge technologies as well as gain expertise in interdisciplinary research. Underrepresented and nontraditional students will actively recruited and mentored, and will provide opportunities to participate in this research through an internship program with a local community college. Graduate and undergraduate students will receive research training in a course developed from the outcome of this project.

非技术性：该奖项由俄勒冈大学尤金分校材料研究部生物材料项目颁发，旨在研究小型生物体中进化的机械和材料适应性，以应对整个工具、超微结构和分子尺度上的缩放规则。当农民的收割工具变钝时，可以将其磨利或更换。然而，许多动物无法获得这些选择。他们必须依赖的工具注定会随着每次使用而降低效率。对于蜘蛛和昆虫等小动物来说，这尤其成问题，因为它们依靠工具的锋利度来克服与其体型相关的力限制。 许多小动物的牙齿、下巴、爪子和刀片中含有高达 25% 的锌、铁、铜、锰、碘和溴，这些奇怪的材料可能已经进化到可以通过减少磨损和断裂来应对这一挑战。该项目将研究这些材料的特性，并对其成分进行详细调查。可以从这些在小型生物体中进化的材料中学到新的理解，以应对与小规模机械相互作用相关的独特挑战。此外，类似的材料可以应用于锋利的工具，例如医疗设备（例如手术刀和微型“机器人”）、原子力显微镜尖端，或需要坚硬但耐冲击材料的其他应用。该项目将为研究教育提供绝佳的机会，因为它是跨学科的，结合了材料科学、生物学、化学和物理学的方法。这项研究将与这个跨学科领域的研究生和本科生的教学和培训相结合。技术：更锋利的工具使较小的动物（以及小型、受力有限的机器）能够切割和刺穿与较大和更强的动物相同的材料。 蚊子和狮子都刺穿同一块皮肤，树懒和切叶蚁必须都切割同一片叶子。但随着刀具半径变小，使刀具断裂所需的能量比用刀具刺穿薄膜所需的能量更小且更快，从而使断裂的可能性越来越大。提议者将研究小生物体中进化的机械和材料适应性，以应对整个工具、超微结构和分子尺度上的这种尺度规则。拟议的活动将：1）首次测试用于小动物机械结构的几种重元素生物材料（HEB）的机械性能； 2）测试一种新颖的缩放规则，表明较小的动物需要更多的抗骨折工具； 3）开始测试新的假设，即重原子可用于降低分子共振频率，从而阻尼高频振动免受冲击； 4) 检验水结合力变化与 HEB 硬度和抗断裂性平衡相关的假设； 5) 根据特定 HEB 在生物工具中的位置，测试其机械性能平衡的预测； 6) 测试特定的锌结合假设。该奖项的研究人员将使用他们已经开发或即将开发的工具来测量小样本的机械性能，以及先进的化学技术，例如原子探针断层扫描。该项目将提供这些尖端技术的研究培训，并获得跨学科研究的专业知识。代表性不足的非传统学生将积极招募和指导，并将通过当地社区学院的实习计划提供参与这项研究的机会。研究生和本科生将接受根据该项目成果开发的课程的研究培训。