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

自38亿年前生命起源以来，达尔文的自然选择反复磨练和完善了适应性，从而产生了多种使生命得以蓬勃发展的解决方案。通过自然选择影响和推动进化的过程类似于研究主导的迭代工程设计，它支撑着制造材料的开发。该项目将探索生物材料（尤其是骨骼）的自然世界，为新材料和结构的开发提供信息，这些材料和结构可能转化为制造材料和工艺的新解决方案。这种方法建立在仿生学领域，这是奥托施密特在20世纪50年代创造的一个术语，但根据新的成像技术和技术，今天有更大的潜力来实现该领域的一些主要目标。一个关键的主要目标是从生物学到技术的思想和类似物的转移。骨强度部分取决于机械输入，该输入将骨骼元素调节（重新）建模为适当的大小和结构，以抵抗习惯使用期间的骨折。这种机械适应确保在生长期间通过建模和重塑过程获得最佳骨量和结构。有一件事是非常清楚的，几乎没有关于不同物种骨强度的研究（大多数研究集中在人类，狗和马），以及这是否与结构和/或物理/机械特性相关。使用X射线显微CT，我们可以探索这个问题，并测试生物材料的强度和行为。我们还旨在分析来自化石记录的生物材料，以便我们可以成像和模拟它们的特性，这些特性已经进化并适应了一些最极端的生物力学环境。材料将包括微妙的翼龙骨骼巨大的脊椎蜥脚类恐龙。

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.