Design and additive manufacturing of bionic hybrid structure inspired by cuttlebone to achieve superior mechanical properties and shape memory function

Lightweight porous materials with high load-bearing,damage tolerance and energy absorption(EA)as well as intelligence of shape recovery after material deformation are beneficial and critical for many applications,e.g.aerospace,automobiles,electronics,etc.Cuttlebone produced in the cuttlefish has evolved vertical walls with the optimal corrugation gradient,enabling stress homogenization,significant load bearing,and damage tolerance to protect the organism from high external pressures in the deep sea.This work illustrated that the complex hybrid wave shape in cuttlebone walls,becoming more tortuous from bottom to top,creates a lightweight,load-bearing structure with progressive failure.By mimicking the cuttlebone,a novel bionic hybrid structure(BHS)was proposed,and as a comparison,a regular corrugated structure and a straight wall structure were designed.Three types of designed structures have been successfully manufactured by laser powder bed fusion(LPBF)with NiTi powder.The LPBF-processed BHS exhibited a total porosity of 0.042% and a good dimensional accuracy with a peak deviation of 17.4μm.Microstructural analysis indicated that the LPBF-processed BHS had a strong(001)crystallographic orientation and an average size of 9.85μm.Mechanical analysis revealed the LPBF-processed BHS could withstand over 25000 times its weight without significant deformation and had the highest specific EA value(5.32 J·g^(−1))due to the absence of stress concentration and progressive wall failure during compression.Cyclic compression testing showed that LPBF-processed BHS possessed superior viscoelastic and elasticity energy dissipation capacity.Importantly,the uniform reversible phase transition from martensite to austenite in the walls enables the structure to largely recover its pre-deformation shape when heated(over 99% recovery rate).These design strategies can serve as valuable references for the development of intelligent components that possess high mechanical efficiency and shape memory capabilities.

Effects of temperature fluctuations on cuttlebone formation of cuttlefish Sepia esculenta

The morphological characteristics and the cuttlebone formation of Sepia esculenta exposed to different water temperature fluctuations were investigated under laboratory conditions. Temperature fluctuation cycles （15 cycles, 60 d in total） consisted of the following three regimes of 4 d duration： keeping water temperature in 26℃ for 3 d （Group A）, 2 d （Group B）, 0 d （Group C, control）; then keeping water temperature in 16℃ for the next 1, 2, 4 d. No significant difference in the survival rate was observed between the control and temperature fluctuation groups （P〉0.05）. Lamellar depositions in a temperature fluctuation cycle were 2.45±0.02 for Group A, 2.00±0.02 for Group B, and 1.78±0.02 for Group C （P〈0.05）. The relationship between age and number of lamellas in the cuttlebone of S. esculenta under each water temperature fluctuation could be described as the linear model and the number of lamellas in the cuttlebone did not correspond to actual age. Group A had the highest cuttlebone growth index （CGI）, the lowest locular index （LI）, and inter-streak distances comparing with those of control group. However, the number of lamellas and LI or CGI showed a quadratic relationship for each temperature fluctuation group. In addition, temperature fluctuations caused the breakage of cuttlebone dark rings, which was considered a thermal mark. The position of the breakage in the dark rings was random. This thermal mark can be used as supplementary information for marking and releasing techniques.

Characterization of cuttlebone for a biomimetic design of cellular structures

Cuttlebone is a natural material possessing the multifunctional properties of high porosity, high flexural stiffness and compressive strength, making it a fine example of design optimization of cellular structures created by nature. Examination of cuttlebone using scanning electron micros- copy （SEM） reveals an approximately periodic microstruc- ture, appropriate for computational characterization using direct homogenization techniques. In this paper, volume fractions and stiffness tensors were determined based on two different unit cell models that were extracted from two different cuttlefish samples. These characterized results were then used as the target values in an inverse homogenization procedure aiming to re-generate microstructures with the same properties as cuttlebone. Unit cells with similar topologies to the original cuttlebone unit cells were achieved, attaining the same volume fraction （i.e. bulk density） and the same （or very close） stiffness tensor. In addition, a range of alternate unit cell topologies were achieved also attaining the target properties, revealing the non-unique nature of this inverse homogenization problem.

Histological and Histochemical Analyses of the Cuttlebone Sac of the Golden Cuttlefish Sepia esculenta

The secretion function of mantle is closely related to shell formation in some bivalves and gastropods. Up to now, few researches have been reported for cuttlebone formation in the class Cephalopoda. In this study, the structure and secretion function of cuttlebone sac of the golden cuttlefish Sepia esculenta was analyzed using the histological and histochemical methods. The results showed that high and columnar cells located in sac epithelium, and fiat cells existed near the base membrane. A lot of fibroblasts were found in the lateral mantle collective tissue. Some mucus, mucopolysaccharide and alkaline phosphatase （ALP） were found in the sac. The ultrastructural characteristics of Quasi-connective-tissue-calcium cells （QCTCC） were observed using a transmission electron microscope （TEM）. The relationship between cuttlebone sac secretion function and shell formation was discussed.

One-step growth of the interconnected carbon nanotubes/graphene hybrids from cuttlebone-derived bi-functional catalyst for lithium-ion batteries

Carbon nanotubes/graphene hybrid materials with excellent physicochemical properties can be widely ap-plied in the fields of energy storage,electrocatalysis,sensing,etc.Reducing the self-stacking and achiev-ing covalent interaction between carbon nanotubes and graphene are important to ensure a stable hi-erarchical architecture and effective mass transfer.Herein,we propose a one-step strategy to synthesize 3D interconnected carbon nanotubes/graphene hybrids on the easy-to-remove biomass-derived substrate.The calcined natural cuttlebone as bi-functional catalyst precursor can simultaneously grow carbon nan-otubes and graphene by one-step chemical vapor deposition without the addition of extra metal catalysts,while the interconnected structure can act as the porous template for graphene growth.The simultane-ous growth process can obtain covalent bonding between carbon nanotubes and graphene,while the crystalline quality and interlayer space can be adjusted by different carbon sources and growth parame-ters(e.g.,temperature).The one-step grown carbon nanotubes/graphene hybrids with seamless interfaces and hierarchical interconnected 3D structure can effectively enhance the electron transfer as well as the electrolyte infiltration efficiency.When utilized as lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)anode,a high specific ca-pacity(544 mAh g^(-1) at 0.1 A g^(-1)),good rate capability(200 mAh g^(-1) at 6.4 A g^(-1) with an ultrashort charge time of 113 s),and excellent cyclic stability can be achieved.This simple and one-step carbon nanotubes/graphene hybrids fabrication strategy can be easily scale-up and applied in various fields.

Cuttlebone： Characterisation, Application and Development of Biomimetic Materials

Cuttlebone signifies a special class of ultra-lightweight cellular natural material possessing unique chemical, mechanical and structural properties, which have drawn considerable attention in the literature. The aim of this paper is to better understand the mechanical and biological roles of cuttlebone. First, the existing literature concerning the characterisation and potential applications inspired by this remarkable biomaterial is critiqued. Second, the finite element-based homogenisation method is used to verify that morphological variations within individual cuttlebone samples have minimal impact on the effective me- chanical properties. This finding agrees with existing literature, which suggests that cuttlebone strength is dictated by the cut- tlefish habitation depth. Subsequently, this homogenisation approach is further developed to characterise the effective me- chanical bulk modulus and biofluidic permeability that cuttlebone provides, thereby quanti lying its mechanical and transporting functionalities to inspire bionic design of structures and materials for more extensive applications. Finally, a brief rationale for the need to design a biomimetic material inspired by the cuttlebone microstructure is provided, based on the preceding inves- tigation.

Conversion of natural marine skeletons as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

Marine CaCO3 skeletons have tailored architectures created by nature, which give them structural support and other functions. For example, seashells have dense lamellar structures, while coral, cuttlebone and sea urchin spines have interconnected porous structures. In our experiments, seashells, coral and cuttlebone were hydrothermaily converted to hydroxyapatite （HAP）, and sea urchin spines were converted to Mg-substituted tricalcium phosphate, while maintaining their original structures. Partially converted shell samples have mechanical strength, which is close to that of compact human bone. After implantation of converted shell and spine samples in rat femoral defects for 6 weeks, there was newly formed bone growth up to and around the implants. Some new bone was found to migrate through the pores of converted spine samples and grow inward. These results show good bioactivity and osteoconductivity of the implants, indicating the converted shell and spine samples can be used as bone defect fillers. The interconnected porous HAP scaffolds from converted coral or cuttlebone that have pore size larger than 100μm likely support infiltration of bone cells and vessels, and finally encourage new bone ingrowth.