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Abstract Biomineralized materials are sophisticated material systems with hierarchical 3D material architectures, which are broadly used as model systems for fundamental mechanical, materials science, and biomimetic studies. The current knowledge of the structure of biological materials is mainly based on 2D imaging, which often impedes comprehensive and accurate understanding of the materials’ intricate 3D microstructure and consequently their mechanics, functions, and bioinspired designs. The development of 3D techniques such as tomography, additive manufacturing, and 4D testing has opened pathways to study biological materials fully in 3D. This review discusses how applying 3D techniques can provide new insights into biomineralized materials that are either well known or possess complex microstructures that are challenging to understand in the 2D framework. The diverse structures of biomineralized materials are characterized based on four universal structural motifs. Nacre is selected as an example to demonstrate how the progression of knowledge from 2D to 3D can bring substantial improvements to understanding the growth mechanism, biomechanics, and bioinspired designs. State‐of‐the‐art multiscale 3D tomographic techniques are discussed with a focus on their integration with 3D geometric quantification, 4D in situ experiments, and multiscale modeling. Outlook is given on the emerging approaches to investigate the synthesis–structure–function–biomimetics relationship.
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Tracing the Movement of Knowledge across Vast Distances and Long Temporal Spans
A research group at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science on “Itineraries of Materials, Recipes, Techniques, and Knowledge in the Early Modern World” held a series of workshops (2014–2015) on the movement of knowledge(materials, techniques, objects) across Eurasia, resulting in an edited volume. Participants articulated a framework of “entangled itineraries,” “material complexes,” and “nodes of convergence” by which historians might follow routes ofknowledge-making extending over very long distances and/or great spans of time. The key concepts are (1) “material complex” denoting the constellation of substances, practices, techniques, beliefs, and values that accrete as knowledge around materials; (2) the “relational field,” the social, intellectual, economic, emotional domain formed by a “node of convergence”—often a hub of trade and exchange—within which a material complex crystalizes; and (3) “itineraries,” or the routes taken by materials through which they stabilize and/ or transform.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1734596
- PAR ID:
- 10104981
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Transfers
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2045-4813
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 75 to 86
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3167/TRANS.2019.090106
