Figure 2

Experimental and numerical results. (a) Schematic of crack deflection in bone (longitudinal plane) and pictures (from optical microscope) of crack deflection in the composites. (b) Schematic of crack deflection in bone (transversal plane) and snapshots of crack deflection in the composites. The bioinspired composites (Bio-2 and Bio-2-CNT) reproduce the crack deflection around the osteon and the longitudinal splitting. (c) Bar plot showing the results of the translaminar fracture toughness tests: the new biomimetic designs (Bio-2 and Bio-2-CNT) boost the fracture toughness by 26% compared to the classic laminate (Lam-2) and by 86% compared to the previous design presented in⁴⁵. (d) Results of the longitudinal three-point bending case study showing better performance of the biomimetic design, in terms of stiffness and strength (pictures from stereomicroscope, scale bar 1000 μm for top left figure and 2000 μm for the other two). (e) Results of the transversal three-point bending case study showing comparable properties of the biomimetic solutions and the classic laminate. The numerical model (dark green dashed line) shows good agreement with the experimental results (dark green continuous line) and is able to accurately predict the crack path. Experimental pictures from stereomicroscope (scale bar 1000 μm for the left figure and 2000 μm for the right one). Color legend at the bottom.