The relationship between a Toucans beak and new materials - Essay Example

The relationship between a Toucan’s beak and new materials The development in material technology has currently gone a notch higher, with conventional materials such as wood, metal or plastics being dropped in preference of more superior materials that offer the best qualities. Material properties such as strength, durability, weight, flexibility, ductility, among other qualities have to be considered before settling on a specific material. This has led to observation of nature where material engineers get inspiration to come up with quality materials that mimic natural phenomena in offering qualities that might not be possible in the conventional materials.

An example of such natural inspirations is the toucan’s beak. This is a great natural phenomenon that has attracted much attention from material engineers as they try to study its properties and understand the factors behind its unique features. The toucan’s beak is long and thick, and is perceived to be heavy for the bird though it is relatively light despite its size (Seki, Kad Benson & Meyers, 2006). The toucan’s beak is a third of the bird’s length, about 1/20 it’s mass, and has been proven to possess great stiffness (Seki, Schneider & Meyers, 2005).

A study of the bird’s beak found it to be made of a sandwich composite with keratin on its outside and close calcium cells rich proteins making a fibrous network (Seki, Schneider & Meyers, 2005). Moreover, the closed cell making the bird’s beak has fibers with a young modulus of more than twice as high as the keratin shell on the outside due to the calcium content. Therefore, such biological materials when well-studied inspires engineers to come up with materials that correspond to the beak, which incidentally would offer similar characteristics and qualities in engineering materials , resulting to superior materials for specific usage.

For example the length of a toucan’s beak and its size in relation to its light weight inspire engineers to come up with martials with a keratin coating on the outside, fibrous networks on the inside, plus an added calcium layer to achieve the strength and flexibility portrayed by a toucan bird, but still meet the need to have such a large component with light weight. In the construction industry where flexible materials are essential, such toucan’s beak offers a great inspiration for engineers to come up with similar materials, which will offer more flexibility, will be much light compared to its size, will possess great strength, and which will absorb high impacts (Biomimicry Institute 2013).

Such materials are essential in the aviation industry and the automobile industry. Toucan’s beak has a hollow section while other sections are made of membranes and beam like structures, an essential feature for an aircraft body. An aircraft body requires the use of composite materials, which possess great strength, stiffness, and lightweight. The synergistic effect of the shell layer and the internal elements together offer the toucan’s beak much greater strength than the sum strengths of each component making the beak.

Therefore, any material whose design is inspired by the bird’s beak will possess such great features in strength, stiffness, much lower weight to size ratio, excellent impact, excellent energy absorption properties, and great insulation value (Biomimicry Institute 2013). Such are the features required in developing crash resistance bodies in aircrafts and vehicles, with much better saving on fuel due to the lower weight of such vehicles. The toucan’s beak is thus a true inspiration for material engineers to come up with superior materials that possess similar characteristics to the toucan’s beak.

ReferencesSeki Y., Kad B., Benson D, & Meyers A.M., (2006) The Toucan’s beak : Structure and Mechanical Response, Material Science and Engineering, 26(8), 1412-1420.Seki Y; Schneider MS; Meyers MA. 2005. Structure and Mechanical Behavior of a Toucan’s Beak . Acta Materialia. 53(20): 5281-5296. The Biomimicry (2013), Institute Beak Design Absorbs High-Energy Impacts: Toco toucan, Ask Nature http://www.asknature.org/strategy/dabc8a57e2d063a6239d8648e337c109