Introduction to biomimetism
â– Biological systems are the result of an ongoing optimisation process over dozens, or even hundreds of millennia. Their basic characteristics, functionality, efficiency, precision, durability and self-reparation abilities have always fascinated humans who design objects and systems. Over the ages, this fascination has taken a more concrete form and in the macroscopic imitation of life; this led, for example, to the development of robots at the end of the 18th century. Closer to us, the notion of “intelligent” material also rests on a biological diagram. Actuators behave like muscles; the functioning of sensors is designed on a diagram imitating the nervous system and the command unit plays the role of the brain of a living being. Initially, this notion of intelligent material/system was approached in a macroscopic way based on elements already available, or improved on, in the technological world; this macroscopic biomimetism has opened some thrilling perspectives.
Taking into account biological cycles leads to the design of eco-materials and the notion of biodegradability, or more generally to recycling. More directly, examining animal and plant structures and their behaviour leads more and more to improving the structural properties of materials. This refined imitation is at the root of bio-material optimisation.
Considerable efforts are used to miniaturise elements, and the distinction between materials and systems becomes irrelevant as soon as actuators and sensors are integrated on a mesoscopic or even microscopic scale. The systems made by man now have life-size dimensions; thanks to constantly improved knowledge of biological processes, we can now envisage innovative couplings.
Adapting inventions in the living world to our technological universe and benchmarking nature to feed the creativity of our engineers is a modern way of thinking. Innovations, which have germinated from an analysis of natural structures or mechanisms, are many. The example of the lotus leaf, which was published the world over; its particular structure is such that nothing clings to it and any foreign substances that land on it are instantly removed by the first drop of dew. Manufacturers of windscreen wipers or high-pressure cleaning materials should be worried, because the first industrial products are now appearing. In aeronautics, our engineers who want to use more intelligent materials should go for a walk in the forest to carefully analyse all the trees that adapt to effort, experience shocks without breaking and repair themselves. An experimental Airbus A 340, whose fuselage is covered with a rough coating inspired by the skin structure of a shark, has already been made.
Written by two well-known researchers in the field of intelligent materials, based on interviews with several of their colleagues and on the analysis of an abundant bibliography, this survey aims to be an introduction to an emerging science by describing the different biomimetic approaches that have led to ground-breaking innovations.
- Publication: March 2003
- ISBN: 2-906024-29-5
- Price for single work station: 350 euros, ex. tax
- Price for several work stations: 950 euros, ex. tax
