J. Compos. Sci., Free Full-Text

Spider silk is an astonishingly tough biomaterial that consists almost entirely of large proteins. Studying the secrets behind the high strength nature of spider webs is very challenging due to their miniature size. In spite of their complex nature, researchers have always been inspired to mimic Nature for developing new products or enhancing the performance of existing technologies. Accordingly, the spider web can be taken as a model for optimal fiber orientation for composite materials to be used in critical structural applications. In this study an attempt is made to analyze the geometrical characteristics of the web construction building units such as spirals and radials. As a measurement tool, we have used a developed MATLAB algorithm code for measuring the node to node of rings and radials angle of orientation. Spider web image samples were collected randomly from an ecological niche with black background sample collection tools. The study shows that the radial angle of orientation is 12.7 degrees with 5 mm distance for the spirals’ mesh size. The extracted geometrical numeric values from the spider web show moderately skewed statistical data. The study sheds light on spider web utilization to develop an optimized fiber orientation reinforced composite structure for constructing, for instance, shell structures, pressure vessels and fuselage cones for the aviation industry.

Applied Sciences, Free Full-Text

Ancient DNA genomics and the renaissance of herbaria

Biodegradation and Mineralization of Polystyrene by Plastic-Eating Mealworms: Part 1. Chemical and Physical Characterization and Isotopic Tests

Polymers, Free Full-Text

Journal of Composites Science An Open Access Journal from MDPI

Polymers, Free Full-Text

Progress Report on Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites - Faruk - 2014 - Macromolecular Materials and Engineering - Wiley Online Library

J. Compos. Sci., Free Full-Text, Alumina, Zirconia and Their Composite Ceramics with Properties Tailored for Medical Applications, [PDF] Mechanical and physical properties of engineering alumina ceramics

IJMS, Free Full-Text