Dandruff: not a problem but a solution

Fish scales are an inspiration for the production of strong and flexible materials

by Ofir Marom

The body of the fish covered in scales is an elegant example of how nature deals with the need to create systems that are light, rigid and flexible at the same time. The exact same problem is faced by engineers and scientists who are required to design units that will protect vehicles or people, so it is only "natural" to try to produce the same solution artificially. This is exactly where Stephan Rodich, an associate professor in the Faculty of Aeronautics and Space Engineering at the Technion, came into the picture. Professor Rodich specializes in the creation of composite and soft materials. Rodich's first works were purely theoretical. They analytically examined the behavior of active materials, which change their properties following external stimulation, and of materials whose special structure allows manipulation of sound waves. In addition, Rodich and his partners characterized the defense mechanism that a fish with hard scales embedded in the soft tissues has. The theoretical research work yielded rules that make it possible to design and create flexible materials with improved durability. If the work had been carried out not many years ago, it might have stopped here. However, the technological advances brought about by the XNUMXD printer revolution allowed Rodich to take a step further with the research and test his theoretical findings in reality.
In a work whose findings were recently published in the scientific magazine Soft Matter, Rudich describes the properties of the new material he created in his laboratory. Similar to the structure of the fish's body, the new material is created from a combination of two materials. The first is a soft and flexible material and the second is hard and durable. Both materials were printed, in 40D printing, in layers, one on top of the other alternately. During the experiments we will examine how the different geometries of the layers affect the properties of the new material. The results showed that by means of the new production technique, the strength of the material can be increased up to 5 times at the expense of a decrease of only XNUMX times! flexibly Flexibility and strength are traditionally thought of as opposing qualities that come at the expense of the other. In the present work, Rodich shows that by correctly combining two different materials, it is relatively simple to improve the strength of the material without significantly detracting from its flexibility. In the future, the method could make it possible to create light protective suits with flexibility in the joint area and at the same time with high rigidity for improved protection for the rest of the body. In the next step, Rodich plans to test the resistance of the new material dynamically against objects that will hit it quickly such as bullets or shrapnel.

In this experiment, a combination of two specific materials will be tested, among other things, for technical reasons. There is no doubt that the findings of this study open a window to a new world of possibilities. As XNUMXD printer technology improves, it will be possible to create materials that are customized for each application. To some extent, this work can be said to be unique in the biomimicry landscape. Often the creative process requires the combined work of people from different schools of thought. Here, the high accessibility of model production using XNUMXD printers allowed the researcher to quickly realize and test insights gained from academic scientific research of the animal world.

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