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Reacquainting Modern Engineering with the Natural World Matthew Cathell Department of Technological Studies The College of New Jersey Monday, August 10, 2009 Environmental & Biotechnology Systems Sustainable Garden Monday, August 10,

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Reacquainting Modern Engineering with the Natural World

Matthew Cathell Department of Technological Studies The College of New Jersey

Monday, August 10, 2009

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Environmental & Biotechnology Systems

Sustainable Garden

Monday, August 10, 2009

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SLIDE 3

Environmental & Biotechnology Systems

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Environmental & Biotechnology Systems

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Humans and Materials

  • throughout history, a key constraint on technological

design has been availibility of materials

  • natural materials dominated early technology (nothing

else was available!)

  • over time, humans developed means of obtaining and

using varied and different materials

  • our species’ epochs are named after the materials we

mastered (The Stone Age, The Bronze Age, The Iron Age)

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SLIDE 6

The Evolution of Materials

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SLIDE 7

Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Brundtland Report World Council on Economic Development 1987

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Materials & the Human-Designed World

  • using materials costs energy – no ways around it
  • some materials are more sustainable than others
  • drawn from a source that is renewable
  • must participate in a closed loop, cyclical

process

  • “natural” does not always equal “sustainable”
  • very few materials used in the human-designed

world today truly approach sustainability

Monday, August 10, 2009

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Natural v. Industrial Systems

Natural Ecosystems

  • mostly uses a few elements

(C, N, O, H)

  • cyclic
  • waste reused as a resource
  • closed loop
  • is considered healthy when at

equilibrium

Industrial Systems

  • uses large number of

available elements

  • linear
  • waste is often not reused
  • open loop
  • is considered healthy when in

growth

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Natural v. Industrial Carbon Cycle

natural carbon cycle

  • resources are transformed

naturally

  • balance and long-term

stability industrial carbon cycle

  • resources are transformed

by human activity

  • resources are not

replenished at rates equaling consumption

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SLIDE 11

Types of Natural Materials

building blocks

  • proteins
  • polysaccharides
  • raw minerals

soft tissue

  • muscle fibers
  • connective tissue
  • keratinized tissue

mineralized tissue

  • dentine/enamel
  • bone, antler
  • shell, coral

wood-like materials

  • tree woods
  • palm, cork, bamboo
  • nut shells

natural fibers

  • mammalian fibers
  • insect/arachnid fibers
  • stem/leaf/seed fibers

biomaterials

  • biometals
  • biopolymers
  • bioceramics

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  • tend to be very efficient
  • need to support static and dynamic loads
  • need to store and release elastic energy
  • need to flex through large angles
  • need to resist buckling and fracture

As a general principle natural selection is continually trying to economize every part of the organization Charles Darwin

common characteristics of natural materials

Efficiency of Biological Materials

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Requirements of Biological Materials

Mechanical

materials support loads from:

  • mass of the organism
  • fluid pressures (internal and external)
  • eating, fighting, moving, etc.
  • wind and snow
  • attack by other organisms

Thermal & Electrical

some materials need to:

  • insulate
  • conduct
  • transpire
  • sense
  • actuate

Unifying Principles

natural biological materials tend to be:

  • composites
  • sustainable
  • recyclable
  • biodegradable

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SLIDE 14

Rammed Earth and Adobe

  • soil available almost anywhere
  • mix with straw or hair and

some lime cement

  • high heat capacity
  • traditional building material in

Mexico and parts of Africa

  • adobe bricks commercially

available

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Straw and Reeds

  • straw bales can be stacked

into wall structure and surfaced with earth plaster

  • r wood
  • low thermal

conductivity and low heat capacity

  • reeds made into thatch
  • reeds grow in water

and have evolved resistance

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Hemp and Flax

  • fast-growing, grass-like

plants

  • fibers have great strength
  • used since antiquity
  • “hempcrete” (mix of hemp

and lime) used as infill in wood frame buildings

  • hempcrete is 75% hemp by

volume and is truly sustainable

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Stone

  • stone is not renewable, but is certainly

abundant (with certain exceptions)

  • durable and reliable
  • dressed stone is expensive, labor- and

energy-intensive

  • fieldstone is the material as found in

nature

  • dry stone is skilled stacking of fieldstone,

and not suitable for load bearing

  • stone bonded with lime mortar is

durable and robust

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The Mystery of the Pyramids

http://www.materials.drexel.edu/Pyramids/

Michel Barsoum, Ph.D.

postulates that portions of the Pyramids are made from reconstituted limestone

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Cork

  • cork is a protective layer found

below the outer bark of many types of trees, including Quercus suber

  • contains the fatty acid suberin

and other waxes, which make cork impervious to air, water and alcohol

  • can be harvested without

harming tree

  • used as flooring surface

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Earthen Floors

  • earthen floors have high density and

low thermal conductivity

  • radiant heating systems can be

installed in the floor, which also acts as a passive solar device

  • sand and fiber aggregate added in

controlled amounts to control cracking

  • sealed with linseed oil and wax
  • point loads not well tolerated

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Bamboo

  • bamboo is widely used as a structural

material in Asian countries

  • material is fast-growing and quickly

renewable

  • strength and stiffness are derived from

tubular cross-sectional shape, reinforced by fiber-bundles within the cross-section

  • often used for oars, masts, bicycles,

scaffolding and floor joists

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Materials Properties Databases

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Biomimicry

Biomimicry is the design and making of human-made structures that mimic those of the natural world

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What Can Nature Do For Us?

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The Lotus Effect

  • the nanoscale structure of

butterfly wings leads to a natural hydrophobic effect

  • as water droplets bead up on

the wing, dust particles are swept up

  • by engineering a mimic of the

butterfly wing surface, we can create dust-repellant surfaces

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Hair with hooks

  • the surface of a

cocklebur has tiny hooks that allow adhesion to animal fur

  • commercial Velco mimics

this natural behavior to create a reusable, non- sticky adhesion

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Shark Skins

  • sharks move through

the water with high efficiency

  • tiny tooth-like scales
  • n the skin direct

water through groves parallel to swimming direction, reducing drag

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Spider Silk

  • spiders produce silk

from an assemblage of proteins

  • the silk is very strong

and insoluble in water

  • the frame structure is

resistant to wind and stable in sunlight

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Whale Fins and Wind Turbines

  • whale fins have scalloped

edges that help them make tight turns in the water

  • wind turbine blades that

mimic the whale fin structure have reduced drag

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Newton’s Rings

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pigment-based color structure- based color

How Does Color Work?

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Structural Color in Nature

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Parker, AR et al. Nature 2003, 426, 786. Zi, H et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United S.tates of America. 2003, 100 Norris, DJ et al. Advanced Materials 2004, 16, 1393. Parker, AR et al. J. Ex. Bio. 1998, 201, 1307.

R

Potyrailo, RA et al. Nature Photonics 2007, 1, 123.

Structural Color in Nature

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spin coating polymer solution (several thousand rpm) no dyes or pigments

Mimicking the Beetle Shell

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“Shells” of Many Colors

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  • ut of

phase!

yellow light blue light

in phase!

thin film thin film

change refractive index

in phase! in phase!

substrate substrate substrate substrate thin film thin film

change thickness

Mimicked Beetle Shell as a Sensor

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before

  • thickness
  • refractive

index

metal ion interaction

  • 50 ppm analyte in

after

  • thickness
  • refractive

index

Evaluating Water for Heavy Metals

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Norris, D. J. et al. Advanced Materials 2004, 16, (16), 1393-1399.

Opal

  • opal is a gemstone made of tiny

silica particles, stacked in a regular periodic way

  • the silica particles are a

photonic crystal, resulting in the beautiful coloration

  • we can mimic opal material by

allowing colloidal silica particles to settle on a substrate

  • nature takes care of the
  • rdered stacking!

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Pokrovsky group, University of Utah

“Inverse Opal” Gels

  • after allowing the silica to stack

in a opal-like film, we gently add a monomer solution

  • the process of polymerization

turns the liquid monomer solution into a polymer gel

  • after the polymer gel has

formed, the silica particles are dissolved with hydrofluoric acid, leaving an flexible “inverse

  • pal” structure

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unstretched gel gel under uniaxial tension

Sumioka, K. et al. Advanced Materials 2002, 14, (18), 1284-+.

Inverse Opals for Pressure Sensing

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normal incidence non-normal incidence

Iridescent Mimicked Beetle Shells

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The College of New Jersey http://www.tcnj.edu/~tstudies/ cathell@tcnj.edu

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References

  • Ashby, Michael F. Materials and the environment: eco-informed material choice. Burlington,

MA: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann (2009)

  • Ashby, Michael F. Materials selection in mechanical design. Burlington, MA: Elsevier

Butterworth-Heinemann (2005)

  • Ashby, Michael F. “The CES EduPack database of natural and man-made materials.”

Granta (2008)

  • Wegst, Ulrike G.K. Bamboo and wood in musical instruments. Annual Review of Materials
  • Research. 38, 323–349 (2008)
  • Gelles, David. “Down and dirty.” The New

York Times Feb. 7 (2007)

  • Forbes, Peter. The gecko’s foot: bio-inspiration: engineering new materials from nature. New

York: W. W. Norton & Co. (2006)

  • Bhushan, Bharat. Biomimetics: lessons from nature – an overview. Philosophical

Transactions of the Royal Society: A. 367, 1445–1486 (2009)

Monday, August 10, 2009