Regensburg 2019 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 6: Poster I
BP 6.12: Poster
Montag, 1. April 2019, 17:30–19:30, Poster B2
Investigating the morphology and nanomechanical properties of snake scale microstructures — •Loïc Musy1, Iaroslav Gaponenko1, Raul Gonzalez2, and Patrycja Paruch1 — 1DQMP, University of Geneva, Switzerland — 2Vivarium de Meyrin, Geneva, Switzerland
Epithelial microstructures in living organisms can inspire biomimetic approaches to materials development, and provide a fascinating window into the evolutionary interplay between environmental constraints and phylogenetic relations.
Here, we study the morphology and mechanical properties of snake scale microstructures, at a macroscopic level using scanning electron microscopy and stress-strain measurements, and at the much less studied nanoscale level via a range of scanning probe microscopy techniques. Investigating sheds from over 20 snake species in 6 different families provided by the Meyrin Vivarium, in each case we fully characterise ventral, dorsal and side scale morphology, and local as well as macroscale response to normal and lateral forces. We find relatively homogenous pattering of the microstructures on ventral scales, possibly as a result of an optimisation for sliding motion, while dorsal scale microstructure patterns vary widely from species to species.
At the nanoscale, we identify very local regions in the microstrucure, particularly on the ventral scales, that dominate the mechanical response of the system.