A Novel In Situ Experiment to Investigate Wear Mechanisms in Biomaterials

A number of experimental techniques have been used to characterize the mechanical properties and wear of biomaterials, from nanoindentation to scratch to atomic force microscopy testing. While all these experiments provide valuable information on the mechanics and functionality of biomaterials (e.g....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental mechanics 2019-06, Vol.59 (5), p.659-667
Main Authors: Alderete, N., Zaheri, A., Espinosa, H.D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abrasion
Atomic force microscopy
Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering
Biomedical materials
Characterization and Evaluation of Materials
Control
Dynamical Systems
Engineering
Force measurement
Image resolution
Lasers
Material properties
Mechanical properties
Mechanics (physics)
Microscopy
Nanoindentation
Optical Devices
Optics
Photonics
Solid Mechanics
Substrates
Teeth
Tool wear
Vibration
Wear mechanisms
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A number of experimental techniques have been used to characterize the mechanical properties and wear of biomaterials, from nanoindentation to scratch to atomic force microscopy testing. While all these experiments provide valuable information on the mechanics and functionality of biomaterials (e.g., animals’ teeth), they lack the ability to combine the measurement of force and sliding velocities with high resolution imaging of the processes taking place at the biomaterial-substrate interface. Here we present an experiment for the in situ scanning electron microscopy characterization of the mechanics of friction and wear of biomaterials with simultaneous control of mechanical and kinematic variables. To illustrate the experimental methodology, we report the wear of the sea urchin tooth, which exhibits a unique combination of architecture and material properties tailored to withstand abrasion loads in different directions. By quantifying contact conditions and changes in the tooth tip geometry, we show that the developed methodology provides a versatile and promising tool to investigate wear mechanisms in a variety of animal teeth accounting for microscale effects.
ISSN:0014-4851
1741-2765
DOI:10.1007/s11340-019-00532-0