Deformation and fracture of echinoderm collagen networks
Abstract
Collagen networks provide the main structural component of most tissues and represent an important ingredient for bio-mimetic materials for bio-medical applications. Here we study the mechanical properties of stiff collagen networks derived from three different echinoderms and show that they exhibit non-linear stiffening followed by brittle fracture. The disordered nature of the network leads to strong sample-to-sample fluctuations in elasticity and fracture strength. We perform numerical simulations of a three dimensional model for the deformation of a cross-linked elastic fibril network which is able to reproduce the macroscopic features of the experimental results and provide insights into the internal mechanics of stiff collagen networks. Our numerical model provides an avenue for the design of collagen membranes with tunable mechanical properties.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1609.06847,
title = {Deformation and fracture of echinoderm collagen networks},
author = {Markus Ovaska and Zsolt Bertalan and Amandine Miksic and Michela Sugni and Cristiano Di Benedetto and Cinzia Ferrario and Livio Leggio and Luca Guidetti and Mikko J. Alava and Caterina A. M. La Porta and Stefano Zapperi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.06847},
year = {2016}
}