Mechanical properties of biological and bioinspired materials

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This is an interdisciplinary course for graduate students interested in the study of biological and bio-inspired materials. Biological materials (i.e., materials that originate from living organisms such as bone, wood, spider silk) are often structured in a sophisticated hierarchical way over many length scales and they exhibit outstanding mechanical properties which are much higher than the attributes of the individual constituents. How is that possible? The main purpose of the course is to answer this question by discussing and interpreting selected examples of biological materials, including mineralized (e.g. bone and bird's beak) and non-mineralized (e.g., wood and spider silk) structures. After a general introduction on the strength of materials, the amazing relationship between structure, property and function will be the central theme of the course. Furthermore, the translation of bio-inspired design strategies into the technical world will be discussed, focusing on the manufacturing of bio-inspired materials with improved mechanical efficiency and multiple functionalities. 

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The main aim of the course is to educate the students to the many design strategies adopted by nature to build load-bearing materials and to suggest how such strategies should be mimicked to design novel bio-inspired heterogeneous materials with unprecedented properties. The students will become familiar with the basic building blocks and construction principles of biological materials thanks to a combination of lectures, dedicated group projects and experimental sessions with 3D printing. By performing the group projects and preparing the oral presentation, the students will also train their soft skills. 

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Classical mechanics and chemistry at the first year university level

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The course is organized in:

• 8 lectures covering: strength of materials, biological materials, bio-inspired materials
• 4 group projects: during the exercise sessions, students will work in small groups to solve specific assignments

Part A

Face-to-face

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Detailed slides, articles and book chapters will be made available to the students via eCampus.

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• Delivery of the 3 assignments is mandatory to access the oral examination. These assignments will have a weight of 20% on the final grade.
• Oral presentation (10% of the final grade): Students (in small groups of 2-3 persons) will prepare an oral presentation (10 minutes + 5 minutes discussion) of a recent research article describing a biological or bio-inspired material.
• Oral examination (70% of the final grade).

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Davide Ruffoni
druffoni@ulg.ac.be
+32 43669359