Kovalev Alexander, Filippov Alexander, Gorb Stanislav N
Department Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute of the Kiel University, Am Botanischen Garten 9, 24118, Kiel, Germany.
Donetsk Institute for Physics and Engineering, National Academy of Science, Donetsk, 340114, Ukraine.
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2018 Apr;204(4):409-417. doi: 10.1007/s00359-018-1248-2. Epub 2018 Jan 24.
The high importance of resilin in invertebrate biomechanics is widely known. It is generally assumed to be an almost perfect elastomer in different tissues. Whereas mechanical properties of resilin were previously determined mainly in tension, here we aimed at studying its mechanical properties in compression. Microindentation of resilin from the wing hinge of Locusta migratoria revealed the clear viscoelastic response of resilin: about a quarter of the mechanical response was assigned to a viscous component in our experiments. Mechanical properties were characterized using a generalized Maxwell model with two characteristic time constants, poroelasticity theory, and alternatively using a 1D model with just one characteristic time constant. Slow viscous responses with 1.7 and 16 s characteristic times were observed during indentation. These results demonstrate that the locust flight system is adapted to both fast and slow mechanical processes. The fast highly elastic process is related to the flight function and the slow viscoelastic process may be related to the wing folding.
resilin在无脊椎动物生物力学中的高度重要性广为人知。人们普遍认为它在不同组织中几乎是一种完美的弹性体。尽管之前主要在拉伸状态下测定resilin的力学性能，但在此我们旨在研究其在压缩状态下的力学性能。对东亚飞蝗翅铰链处的resilin进行微压痕测试，揭示了resilin明显的粘弹性响应：在我们的实验中，约四分之一的力学响应归因于粘性成分。使用具有两个特征时间常数的广义麦克斯韦模型、多孔弹性理论，并另外使用仅具有一个特征时间常数的一维模型来表征力学性能。在压痕过程中观察到了特征时间分别为1.7秒和16秒的缓慢粘性响应。这些结果表明，蝗虫飞行系统既适应快速机械过程，也适应缓慢机械过程。快速的高弹性过程与飞行功能相关，而缓慢的粘弹性过程可能与翅膀折叠有关。
