Bioinspired Synthesis of Tough Laminates Joanna M. McKittrick, University of California, San Diego, DMR 1006931 Research Highlights • Bony Fish Most bony fish have external plate-like armor, such as the tiles of a boxfish (image 2a) or the scales of an alligator gar (image 2b). Seahorses (image 2c) and pipefish (image 2d) have bony plates instead of scales that provide body support, protection, and prehensile capabilities. The torso of the seahorse is supported by heptagonal segments. The torso of the pipefish is supported by hexagonal segments. The prehensile tails of the seahorse and pipefish are composed of overlapping square-like segments that allow their tails to bend in helicoidal manner. 200nm 200nm • Abalone nacre The nanostructured features of the individual constituents of nacre provide toughness. Deproteinized nacre shows the aragonite nano- aspereties (image 3a). Demineralized nacre shows the porous organic matrix (image 3b). • Magnetic freeze casting inspired by nature Introducing a static magnetic field during freeze casting aligned micro-channels parallel to the magnetic field and doubled the compressive strength and stiffness in the field direction. Stress-strain curves of TiO 2 scaffolds fabricated with no magnetic field (dotted lines, image 1a) and a static magnetic field of 0.12 T (solid lines, image 1b). Magnetic field direction shown by purple arrow. 100µm 100µm 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 0.05 0.1 S tress (M Pa) S train (m m/mm) Nofield Staticfield 2X strength & modulus (Z) (Z) (Y) (X) (X, Y) B B X Y Z 1a 1b 2c 2d 2a 2b