Shell inspiration: turning nature’s secrets into engineering solutions

材料的性质受到其微观结构的强烈影响，这种现象在自然界中经常可见。这在贻贝等软体动物的壳中表现得很明显。这些贝壳呈现出各种各样的形状、图案和颜色。此外，它们具有与钢相似的韧性，同时重量轻得多。这些迷人的特征是由有组织的碳酸钙（在白垩中发现的矿物质）构成贝壳的方式的结果。在自然界中，这些构建模块的组合在整个生长过程中都得到了精确的控制。利用从贝壳生长中学到的自然秘密的能力在制造具有前所未有性能的高性能材料方面将是无价的。要认识到这一点，我们首先需要了解大自然是如何控制贝壳的组成部分——碳酸钙的形成和组装的。在本提案中，我们将开发一种新的方法来深入了解这种自然控制过程，然后利用这些知识来生产受自然启发的新型材料。我们方法的核心是“电子可编程微流体喷泉阵列”（EPMFA），这是一种为研究创造仿生条件的工具。EPMFA将使我们能够控制组织构建块（如碳酸钙）的所有方面，从只有用最好的显微镜才能看到的特征；通过我们正在创造的材料的整体形状和大小。我们将开始专注于一个单一的例子材料，珍珠母，然后利用我们已经学会了基于相同的构建块创建新颖的结构。这种新材料将经过专门设计，因此它可以用作医疗植入物的一部分，其特性将大大有利于骨骼重建或关节置换。我们预计，所获得的知识将大大提高我们在创造性制造方面的能力，并将受益于从医学到气候变化等广泛领域。通过使用碳酸钙以外的构建块，我们的技术将使我们能够设计和制造具有光学，磁性，电子，化学和机械性能独特组合的新材料。这些材料的用途几乎是无穷无尽的。

The properties of a material are strongly affected by its microscopic structure, a phenomenon that can often be seen in nature. This is clearly evident in the shells of molluscs such as mussels. These seashells exhibit magnificently diverse shapes, patterns and colours. In addition, they have a toughness similar to steel whilst being much lighter. These fascinating characteristics are the result of the way that shells are made from organised building blocks of calcium carbonate (the mineral found in chalk). In nature, the combination of these building blocks is exquisitely controlled throughout growth. The ability to use nature's secrets learned from shell growth would be invaluable in manufacturing high performance materials with unprecedented properties. To realise this, we first need to learn how nature controls the formation and assembly of the building blocks of a shell - calcium carbonate. In this proposal, we will develop a new approach to enable an in-depth understanding of this natural controlling process, and then exploit the knowledge for producing novel material that are inspired by nature. At the core of our approach is the "Electronically Programmable Microfluidic Fountain Array" (EPMFA), a tool to create biomimetic conditions for the investigation. The EPMFA will enable us to control all of the aspects of organising building blocks (such as calcium carbonate), from features only visible with the best microscopes; through to the overall shape and size of the material that we are creating.We will start off with a focus on a single example material, Mother-of-Pearl, and then exploit what we have learnt to create novel structures based on the same building blocks. This new material will be specifically designed so that it could be used as part of a medical implant, with properties that would greatly benefit bone reconstruction or joint replacement. We envisage the knowledge gained will significantly enhance our abilities in creative manufacturing, and will benefit a very wide range of areas, from medicine to climate change. By using building blocks beyond calcium carbonate, our techniques will let us design and manufacture new materials with unique combinations of optical, magnetic, electronic, chemical and mechanical properties. The uses for these materials will be almost endless.