Advanced Materials Research
ISSN: 1662-8985, Vol. 819, pp 91-94
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.819.91
© 2013 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
Online: 2013-09-23
The Application of Biomimetic Materials on Industry Design Research
Li Xiaodong1, a
1
Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin 300134, China
a
lxd_8111@163.com
Key words: biomimetic materials; industry design; application
Abstract. For thousands of years, people have been in nature to make use of our natural materials,
among them some are harder than iron and steel, some are superior than the best optical device, what
let human more amazing is that the nature’s reasonable application of these materials. Through the
study and research of nature, humans create the biomimetic material to meet the demand of industrial
design; they were widely used in the field of industrial design according to the different
characteristics. Application of these new materials opened up a brand-new road for the development
of industrial design.
Introduction
Nature is full of good designs as examples, for the industrial design, they are inexhaustible,
inexhaustible "treasure-house of design". The good design choices of the nature, some structure is
exquisite, some material is reasonable, function is complete, and embodies the nature of adaptive law
on everything. In the early days of humanity, we rely on the natural material to build our home, make
clothing, and for various purposes. In the past few years, scientists have started with a new
perspective of the nature; they found that through the study of nature, we can find warmer, more solid,
more fashion, and more environmentally friendly materials to change our lives. Learning from nature
brings the development of industrial design into a new world full of surprises.
Biomimetic materials and industrial design
Biomimetic materials refer to materials that imitate various biological characteristics or features to
develop. Usually those that modeled on the operation of the living system and the structure law of
biological materials to design and manufacture of artificial materials called biomimetic materials.
There is a close relationship between biomimetic materials and industrial design [1]. Through the
form ,Industrial design express the appearance of the product characteristics, material as a carrier of
the ideology, make products to express more abundant and vivid, no industrial product can exist alone
without material. Material as partner of industrial designers, bring inspiration for the designer, the
same product use different material will produce different effect, and give people different feelings
too. Material is full of spirituality; it can give people endless imagination. So the material in the
industrial design is integrated into the design process of thoughts and feelings, making industrial
design product become the medium of communication with the customers [2]. Therefore, with the
deep understanding and research of human to nature, and constantly learn from the natural survival.
Biomimetic materials have become resources for scientists and industry designers to develop and
utilize. New biomimetic material application will also open a new path of innovation for the
development of industrial design.
Features biomimetic material application in industrial design
All creatures on earth in nature, after millions of years’ evolution, through the selection, they have
a variety of functions to adapt to the natural environment, and this evolutionary degree is almost
perfect [3]. Human modified materials by imitation and innovation of biological function, through the
combination of science and nature, create more new materials for human. Scientists have found that
some aspects of the function of animal and plant, far more beyond the existing of human science and
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technology. All kinds of creatures survive in nature run their special functions to thrive in the rough
and complex environment; this is a carefully selected result of nature. By imitating their special
function in the nature, a bridge between biology and industrial design is set up, it also provide
effective design solutions for industrial design.
Beetle live in the Namib Desert, covered in tiny bumps, they can also be in here and have a lot of
breeding in the hot desert almost doesn't rain. Their survival is the only water every morning mist rose
from the sea. So the first thing to do of these beetles every day is climb to the top of the sand dunes,
intercept the water mist. The tiny bump, help them to condense water vapor on the body. Raised tip
can capture the water in the desert; the water will be caught along the channel between bump textures
to drop into the mouth of the beetle. The survival strategy in the desert, become new ideas for a
company to design for refugee camp. These tents designed condense moisture from the air in the
morning, so that people in disaster area can drink, even in regions with ground water supplies
shortage. Learning law of nature survival way offers help for human's frequent water crisis, as shown
in figure 1.
Fig.1 The beetle in Namib Desert
When it comes to the highest efficiency to through underwater, there is no doubt that it is shark;
shark’s skin makes it seems can get twice the result with half the effort. We will make shark’s skin
surface zoom in hundreds, you will find that the central part has a ridged bumps, the protruding parts
locked a layer of water on the surface of the skin, reduces the resistance when it swims. Nowadays,
swimsuit manufacturers adhered something like shark leather puffs on the surface of the swimsuit and
analyzes the swimmer's form. Like sharks, setting ridged projection in the most effective location,
this design can reduce nearly 4% of the water resistance. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Australian
swimmer, wear this swimsuit for the first time and far ahead in the race, as shown in figure 2.
Fig.2 Shark and bionic sharkskin swimsuit
Visual features of biomimetic material in the application of industrial design
With the excessive use of natural resources by human, some plants and animals were used as
goods, making some plants and animals endangered, destroying the ecological balance. So people use
artificial biomimetic materials to replace natural materials to meet the demand of people’s pursuit of
natural material for industrial products. The biomimetic material is changing role gradually in the
development of industrial design [4]. For example, the best-selling industrial products such as the
leather bags, belts, and handbags made of crocodile, snake skin in the international market, because
of the high economic benefits, making these creatures killed. Basing on the protection of nature,
according to the skin characteristics and simple sense of these plants and animals, using some new
techniques of biomimetic material, industrial designers make the product resembles natural plant and
animal skins. This biomimetic material that is able to mass produce, not only meets the demand of
consumers to a certain extent, but also protects the natural life at the same time.
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As another example, blue flash butterfly, living in the tropical rain forest, shining with light blue
wings, like the lighthouse in the tropical rain forest, you can see it in 500 meters outside, this is the
result of its evolution, in order to attract mates. Surprisingly, however, there is no existence of the
pigment on the wings of a butterfly. Ways for them to make the color like soap bubbles, this flickering
color is caused by the emitting light inside and outside of the bubbles surface, and will change as the
change of the viewing angle. But the color of the blue flash butterfly is stronger than the color of the
bubble; it is the result of its every piece of microscopic structure on the wings’ scales. These tiny
scales are covered with ridges on the surface and each ridge contains many corneous layers, the
stratum cuticle of the spacing is the wavelength of the blue light, so when light irradiates on the
corneous layer, only the blue light is reflected. The same spacing between cuticles means continuous
blue light, produce interference phenomena. This not only strengthens the light, and to strengthen the
color. Japanese manufacturers have applied this principle to the fabric. According to the blue flash
butterfly wing scales’ corneous layer structure arrangement, they produce a material called “Moore
Buddha fiber" made of nylon and polyester fiber. The material glaring interference color that never
fades. Now, the cosmetics company has also developed lipstick with the same effect. The revelation
that blue flash butterfly brings to humankind, continues to be applied to the industrial design field, as
shown in figure 3.
Fig.3 Blue flash butterfly and Moore Buddha fiber materials
Intelligent characteristics of biomimetic materials in the application of industrial design
Nature provides the biomimetic material inexhaustible precious prototypes, new materials
imitated by biological characteristics, can even to perception, memory, and performs some behavior
of the intelligent materials, and have gradually been applied to the industrial design. That's for pine
cones imitation. When pine cones mature, a gradual shift in color from green, purple, yellow, light
brown or dark brown. Shortly after the most mature of pine cones, their scales will open, seeds fall off
quickly. This phenomenon is discovered by designers, in this research, because the cones scales are
constituted by hard fiber material of resin, but from the top, the fiber layers are arranged in a different
direction, when the scales after drying, the fibers of the bottom is stronger than the contraction of the
top, it split pine cones, and release the seeds. By understanding the working principle, architect finds
clothing fiber which has the same performance. When the fiber gets wet because of sweat, part of the
fiber will open so that plays the effect of ventilation. This material is applied in industrial design
flexibly, as shown in figure 4.
Fig.4 Pine cones and intelligent biomimetic materials
The application of biomimetic material structure characteristics in industrial design
Biomimetic structure materials are mainly to study the problems of how to apply the material that
is made according to the internal structures of the principle between organisms and nature in actual
design reasonably. Such as the structure of the cellular saves material most, and the capacity is very
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big, the robustness is rather strong. People adopt all kinds of materials to simulate and manufacturing
of the honeycomb sandwich plate structure, light weight, great strength, do not readily conduct heat
and sound, the best material to make the spacecraft, the space shuttle, satellites and so on. Like,
ceramic has good qualities such as corrosion-resistant, wear-resisting, and high temperature resistant,
but its brittleness limits its application in many fields. Scientists have been studying how to improve
its toughness, through the study of the shell in nature, and imitate the structure, humans seem to have
found the answer. Abalone shell is one of the hardest wear-resisting materials in nature. Scientists
compared the abalone shell to brick wall, ultra-thin layers of calcium carbonate as bricks, organic
protein layer seems to cement that combine calcium carbonate layers together. Abalone shell strength
is not worse than advanced ceramics, but it is not as fragile as ceramics [5]. Through imitating the
multilayered structure of abalone shell, scientists produce strong ceramic. These ceramic is not only
used in pots among our life, but also has been widely used in industrial field, as shown in figure 5.
Fig.5 Ceramic tool
Conclusions
The biomimetic materials, as correspondence of the human production activities and nature, are
gradually promote the industrial design to a new peak. With the in-depth study of human to nature,
breaking the conventional mode of thinking, we will open a door to the natural world, and find a more
excellent way for the biomimetic material application in industrial design.
References
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[2] Lang Li-juan，Jiang Wen, Innovative Production Design Based on M aterial Characteristics,
Journal of Guangdong University of Technology (Social Sciences Edition), 12(2012) 77-78.
[3] Xu Chi-ye, Discussion on bionic design in industrial design, J. The leading journal for enterprise,
(2011) 263-264.
[4] Gao Rui-tao, Cao Yu-hua,Zhang Xiao-kai, Analysis on the Role Changes of Material in Industrial
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