The teeth of the sea plate - the most durable material in nature

The secret of the arachnid glands of arachnids is no longer considered the most durable natural material, although the tensile strength of the web of 1.3 gigapascal is very impressive (for comparison, steel has a tensile strength of 0.5 to 3 GPa).

But in nature, the material found is even stronger than the web, steel, or graphite filamentous crystals. In the Journal of the Royal Society Interface published an article “Extreme strength observed in limpet teeth” , which requires updating the book of records.
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The researchers measured the tensile strength of the material that makes up the teeth of the sea ​​saucer - aquatic gastropods of the species Patella vulgata. It turned out that, depending on the area of ​​the tooth, the tensile strength varies from 3 to 6.5 GPa.

The photograph from the scanning electron microscope shows the structure of the teeth of the sea plate. The length of each tooth is about 100 micrometers.



The larger images show that the teeth consist of a protein matrix interspersed with individual fibers about 3 micrometers long and about 20 nanometers thick. Such a structure can be called reinforced composite material.



The fibers themselves consist of goethite , an iron-containing mineral with the formula FeO (OH).

Although this material is inferior in strength to some artificial materials like graphene, it leaves far behind steel and Kevlar, not to mention all the materials found in nature. In terms of strength, it roughly corresponds to the highest quality carbon fiber.

Scientists suggest that the strength of the material can be used, for example, in dentistry.