Individual reflection - Chia Wei Qian

What was the most interesting proposed used of biomimicry that was developed in blog? Why?

There are a lot of people having pets in their own life as their greatest partner, family member, soulmate or best friends. Mostly people pets choices are mammals like puppy or kitten and there's also less favorable amphibian such as fresh water turtles. It is a very good experience for us to has a chance to adopt a fresh water turtle as a pet and biomimicry study on him. Most interesting still the turtle shell study. The turtle shell can mimicked and developed into different kind of real life solutions. I was surprised that high potential mimicry and development of the shell turtle throughout the studies. It is the reason why blog development is interesting. 

Do you think that your design is patentable? Is it unique enough to be approved?

The design is pantentable. Turtle shell consider one of the most hardest biological structure among all the animal species. The mechanical properties of turtle shell can be mimicked to form new biological or non-biological material which can be well performed in withstand high physical impact or pressure driven such as body armor, automotive, aerospace and other fields. A harder but less denser material mimic from turtle shell may has a high market value and advancing technology to a new level. 

Did you think that working as a team made this project easier or harder? Why?

It is definitely good idea for the working work as a group. More manpower and different ideas came from different brains to make this blog more interesting. Especially thanks to Vincent Khaw that put a lot of effort in this blog management and proposing great idea. The most significant and valuable post is the I-beam modification which has a high social impact on modifying one of the most common products in market. 

Conclusion

First of all, thanks you all for following this blog throughout the 13 weeks journey.

Sad to say, we have finally come to an end of the project. Which mean, this is our last post :(

Throughout the  13 weeks journey, we have carried out critical thinking on mimicking the both mechanical and chemical properties of freshwater turtle based on literature review.

At the early stage, we study what is biomimicry and decide which animal to adopt as our study target. The searching for a suitable study target (or partner) come to an end when we found Turtle General, a red-eared slider which full of mystery.

Following by that, a long journey of scientific study and experiment was carried out on the red-eared slider. After a rigorous study on his habitat, behaviour, anatomy, and physiology, we have came out with an idea to mimic its shell structure to improve the steel beam mechanical structure. We found that the carapace (upper part of turtle shell) is in the form of complex structure (rigid-flexible-rigid) which results in higher cyclic loading tolerance that ensure the turtle shell is able to withstand frequent attack from the enemy. By mimicking the turtle shell into steel beam design, it allows the steel beam to withstand high amount of cyclic loading without fatigue. This improve the lifetime of steel beam and helps to improve the durability of building structure. This idea is cost efficient and require least amount of modification on the current manufacturing process, thus it is doable and will attract a lots of interest from experts working in construction industry. 

At last, we hope you guys have learned the basic knowledge on red-eared slider and give you a new insight on biomimicry technology. For people who is interest on the full details of this research, we welcome you to contact us by leaving a comment or email to us. 

Till then, see you guys !

Individual reflection - Jason Khoo Chang Jian

What was the most interesting proposed used of biomimicry that was developed in blog? Why?

The first thing that came across my mind was turtle can be proposed in biomimicry. The most general ones would be turtle shell. Why turtle shell? Because of its hard and rigid shell that is made up of keratin. From here, we analysed what turtle shells can be mimicked into. As this blog was being developed from time to time, I felt surprised because there are quite a number of things that can be mimicked from turtle shells than I expected!! Hence, making this blog interesting.

Do you think that your design is patentable? Is it unique enough to be approved?

This design is definitely patentable because the mechanical properties of the turtle shell can be used in many things such as bridges (stability) as well as body armour (protection). Since we know the behavior such as yield strength and Young’s modulus for the material, hence, the proposed design can be further studied. If it is financially feasible, it would definitely bring advantages to the community.

Did you think that working as a team made this project easier or harder? Why?

Working as a team is easier because we have more manpower whereby one will help in proposing ideas, doing research, compiling as well as simulation, thus, the workload will be much easier and save time. I would like to specially thank Khaw Wei Chuen for his effort on SolidWorks. The simulation that he conducted allows us and readers to have an in depth understanding on the analysis that we proposed from turtle’s shell. Without him, the blog might not be comprehensive.

Bio-inspiration - Turtle Shell used as Body Armour

Protective armours were found in nature a long time ago and they consist of several number of designs. However, these designs are rarely structurally rigid: nature often prefers multi-layer material systems providing maximum impact protection at a weight that has the possibility of exhibiting high fracture toughness and impact resistance. The materials for armours are usually from ceramics and polymer matrix composites whereby composite armour is made of a hard strike ceramic face made of tiles as well as fiber reinforced composite backing plate. The purpose of the front ceramic layer is to prevent the high pressure forces on the backing composite plate by projectile deformation whereas composite backing plate is utilized in absorbing its kinetic energy.

Armours can be mimicked from the turtle shells whereby the shells are covered by thin keratinous wavy multi-layers and termed scutes. These keratins are useful in such a way that the proteins from keratins are able to protect the epithelial cells from damage. Hence, these features serve as a defense mechanism whenever they are attacked by predators. Similarly, when these feature is applied in body armours as well as shields, it will be able to protect the soldiers from incoming attacks during combat. Here are 2 examples: Traditional and modern day body armour:

Figure 1. Traditional body armour worn by Roman soldiers. The shield is design according to the shape of turtle shell

Figure 2. Modern military body armour from Korea Military Force (KMF)

In the present day, the analysis of body armour evolution in turtles results in several design principles:

1.      Maximize size of body armour

2.      Create smooth surfaces

3.      Create multilayer body armour

4.      Introduce shock absorbing layers

5.      Minimize weight

6.      Maximize articulation

The Romans have imitated the function of the turtle shell with military maneuver in which soldiers marched in a rectangular formation apart from body armour:

1.      Head holding shields at the front

2.      Side holding shields at the side

3.      Soldiers in the middle holding shields over their heads

Figure 3. Soldiers in rectangular formation with their shield to cover from external impact

References

1. B. Achrai, B. Bar-On, and H.D. Wagner, “Biological armors under impact-effect of keratin coating,     and synthetic bio-inspired analogues,” Bioinsp. Biomim, vol. 10, 2015.

2. T Arciszewski, and J. Cornell, “Bio-inspiration: Learning Creative Design Principal ,” 

Individual reflection - Tee

Engineering and Biomimetic is a module that study about the conversion of natural to engineering application to solve some engineering problems. There are 3 main objectives in this subject which are to analyze the limitations and technologies for the adoption of nature in engineering design, evaluate the sustainability of biomimetic engineering system and mechanism of energy transfer within the living beings. To fulfill these 3 objectives, students are required to form a group (about 4-5 person per group) and write a blog about the experience for adoption of a living substance.

Our group choose to adopt a red-eared slider which is a very popular turtle pet. We choose to adopt this turtle is because it is easy to adopt, abundance, cheap and its living and habitats are quite interesting. Besides the adopting of pet, we also required to research about the anatomy and characteristic of the pet from literature. This is my first time to adopt a turtle type pet, therefore I have zero knowledge on the pet before we adopt it. When I first adopting the turtle, the main problem I have is the living environment of the pet. Since initially I thought turtle living environment is in water, I have pour in many water inside the container. However, based on my observation, I have found that turtle will take their head out of the water after a certain time to breathe, thus I have reduced the water level in the container to allow them breathe easily. Besides that, I have put a small rock which is used as a place that can help them escape from water for a while. The rock cannot be too big, because it may hit the turtle and cause some injuries on it. The second problem I have faced is the smelly odor that come out from the water in the container. To solve this problem, the water inside the container have to be changed daily. Aside from the adopting of turtle, the problem I have in writing blog is the arrangement of the blog article since I never wrote a blog before.

After the adopting of turtle, the main lesson I have learnt is that we have to put much care and love on the living substance we adopting. We have to take responsibilities on their living environment, foods, habitats and many more. Besides that, I have more understanding on the knowledges of the red-eared slider such as its anatomy, characteristics, habitats, its biomimicry theories and many more. I think this is a good assessment for students as it can help them to have more understanding on the objectives of the module which may be hard to fulfill just from the lectures. 

Individual Reflection - Vincent Khaw

What was the most interesting proposed used of biomimicry that was developed in blog? Why?

Throughout the 13 weeks journey, I learn a lots from the adopted turtle which include its behaviour and both mechanical and chemical structure of its body. The most interesting idea proposed used of biomimicry used from the turtle is using the rib-suture-rib complex structure to enhance the design of a I-beam. The zigzag pattern and collage-made suture make turtle shell to gain better resistance against cyclic loading without sacrificing its rigid properties. By adapting this design, it helps to extend the lifetime of I-beam and avoid unpredictable fatigue occur. 

Do you think that your design is patentable? Is it unique enough to be approved?

This design is never reported and consider a state-of-the-art technology that has wide range of application that cover construction, defence and weapon, automotive, aviation, etc. Therefore, I think this design is patentable and economic viable which able to advance the current technology to the next level. 

Did you think that working as a team made this project easier or harder? Why?

It is definitely better to work as a team instead of individual. As a project leader, I receive a lots of help from Jason Khoo who helps carried out survey and analyzed the information. Unfortunately, William Chia and Tee are unable to perform well in this project as their lack of time management skill make them absence most of the time. Self-discipline and responsibility are definitely the two main criteria to shape the personality of an engineer. I wish William Chia and Tee a good fortune and hope they can correct their misbehaving that i observed from this project. 

Novel Industrial Application - Reversed Engineering Worksheet

Do you think your product, building, or system would work if manufactured?

The modified I-beam has a similar cost with the commercial I-beam that gives better mechanical performance in terms of fatigue loading. Apart from that, it requires least modification to the current manufacturing process. Therefore, I think modified I-beam will work pretty well if manufactured and sell into the market. 

Do you think that you could raise funds to pay for manufacturing? How would you go about raising funds?

I think this ideal will attract a lot of interest from people working in the construction industry. I will prepare a proposal and submit to the respective company to ask for their collaboration on this project. Apart from that, I can also upload my work onto the fund raising website to ask for donation from the public or potential investor.  

Do you think that many engineers explore solutions from nature into their inventions?

I think many engineers adapt solution from the nature into their work nowadays. The solutions found from the nature is environmentally friendly and able to interlink with other system to form a ecosystem-alike working environment which helps to save cost and reduce shutdown frequency.