This book explores the structure-property-process relationship of biomaterials from engineering and biomedical perspectives, and the potential of bio-inspired materials and their applications. A large variety of natural materials with outstanding physical and mechanical properties have appeared in the course of evolution. From a bio-inspired viewpoint, materials design requires a novel and highly cross disciplinary approach. Considerable benefits can be gained by providing an integrated approach using bio-inspiration with materials science and engineering.
The book is divided into three parts; Part One focuses on mechanical aspects, dealing with conventional material properties: strength, toughness, hardness, wear resistance, impact resistance, self-healing, adhesion, and adaptation and morphing. Part Two focuses on functional materials with unique capabilities, such as self-cleaning, stimuli-response, structural color, anti-reflective materials, catalytic materials for clean energy conversion and storage, and other related topics. Part Three describes how to mimic natural materials processes to synthesize materials with low cost, efficient and environmentally friendly approaches. For each chapter, the approach is to describe situations in nature first and then biomimetic materials, fulfilling the need for an interdisciplinary approach which overlaps both engineering and materials science.
About the Author: Zhenhai Xia, Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, USA. Zhenhai Xia received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Hefei University of Technology of China in 1984, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern Polytechnic University in 1987 and 1990, respectively. Professor Xia's current research interests are nanomechanics and nanomaterials, including polymer, ceramic and metal composites, multifunctional materials, biomimetic materials, thin films and fibrillar materials. He has more than 20 years of research experience with over 80 publications, two book chapters and one patent.
