Kochiyama Sayaka, Kesari Haneesh
School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
J R Soc Interface. 2025 Mar;22(224):20240252. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2024.0252. Epub 2025 Mar 19.
Patterns found in structural materials of biological origin are an excellent source of inspiration for engineers. The root fibres (basalia spicules) of the marine sponge anchor it to the ocean floor and exhibit a lamellar architecture. It is generally thought that the spicule's architecture contributes to the spicule's fracture toughness. However, in recent experiments, the spicules' architecture did not contribute to their fracture toughness in a statistically significant way, with their fracture initiation toughness being similar to that of synthetic glass. In this article, we present a mechanics model and show that the spicule's architecture could be contributing to its strength, potentially benefiting the sponge's survival. When a spicule forms a loop, we find that its layers can increase the spicule's strength by reducing the bending stress induced by the tensile load transmitted along its length.
生物源结构材料中发现的模式是工程师的绝佳灵感来源。海洋海绵的根纤维（基部骨针）将其固定在海底，并呈现出层状结构。人们普遍认为骨针的结构有助于提高骨针的断裂韧性。然而，在最近的实验中，骨针的结构对其断裂韧性并没有统计学上的显著贡献，其断裂起始韧性与合成玻璃相似。在本文中，我们提出了一个力学模型，并表明骨针的结构可能有助于提高其强度，这可能有利于海绵的生存。当骨针形成一个环时，我们发现其层可以通过降低沿其长度传递的拉伸载荷引起的弯曲应力来提高骨针的强度。
