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Sandwich armor from seabed inferno
Published: 19 January, 2010, 15:57
Credit: Anders Warén, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden.
TAGS: Animals, Arms, SciTech, Biology
Bulletproof vest designers could learn from a small snail living in the harsh environment of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Its shell has a special three-layer structure, which protects it from the pincers of hungry crabs.
The marine mollusk, called the scaly-foot gastropod, is the only known animal which uses iron-sulfide minerals as structural material. It covers both its foot – hence the name – and its shell, and protects the snail from the highly acidic environment.
Material researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, led by Christine Ortiz – reporting in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – have discovered that the shell of the creature itself is very interesting.
The rigid dome, which protects the snail from predators, has a unique three-layered structure. The outer stiff layer is made of iron sulfide grains. Under it is softer organic material, while the innermost rigid layer consists of calcium minerals.
This hard-soft-hard sandwich is nature’s design to withstand piercing pressure. When put under stress, the outer layer cracks along the lines guided by its structure to disperse energy. However the cracks can’t go deeper, because the soft middle layer does not allow them to. Finally, the inner part of the shell holds compression from the squeezing pincer and prevents injury.
The scientists believe a similar approach can be used by designers to make body armor or crack-resistant car paint.
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