Bio-inspired design to overcome strength-toughness trade-off of composites

该项目旨在开发具有特殊机械性能的自然启发的金属复合材料，突破工程材料的已知界限。该设计利用相变金属来转录珍珠层中生物聚合物的属性，以利用原子尺度上原子间键的特殊内在强度，并在宏观尺度上设计出负载重新分配韧性的自适应能力。预期的结果是一种创新的生物启发材料设计策略，可能会支持许多具有无与伦比的强度和韧性的新型高性能结构复合材料的创造，并有可能支持新的应用，并为澳大利亚的材料制造业增值。

This project aims to develop nature-inspired metal composites of exceptional mechanical properties that push the known boundaries of engineering materials. The design utilises a phase transforming metal to transcribe the attributes of biopolymers in nacre to harness the exceptional intrinsic strength of interatomic bonds at atomic scale and to devise adaptive ability for load redistribution for toughness at the macroscopic scale. The expected outcomes are an innovative bio-inspired material design strategy that may underpin the creation of many novel high-performance structural composites of unmatched strength and toughness properties, and potential to support new applications and to value-add Australia’s materials manufacturing industry.