Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-30T21:46:06.578Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nanoindentation to quantify the effect of insect dimorphism on the mechanical properties of insect rubberlike cuticle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2013

Céline M. Hayot ,
Susan Enders ,
Anthony Zera  and
Joseph A. Turner
Céline M. Hayot
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588
Susan Enders
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Doane College, Crete, Nebraska 68333
Anthony Zera
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588
Joseph A. Turner*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Rubberlike insect cuticle is a light fibrous composite, which exhibits great deformability and long-range elasticity due to the presence of a large amount of the elastomeric protein resilin. The presence of resilin in specific locations in the insect body leads to the assumption that its main function is loss-free storage of energy. Rubberlike cuticle was identified, for the first time, in the femur base of the sand field cricket, Gryllus firmus, using fluorescence microscopy and various staining methods. Dynamic nanoindentation testing was then used to investigate the differences in the mechanical properties of rubberlike cuticle between males and females and wing morphs of this species. Significant changes in storage, loss moduli, and resilience were captured between female wing morphs. The results provide insight into the structure–function relations associated with the properties of insect joints from different morphs and genders.

Keywords

nanoindentationmicrostructureelastic properties
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 28 , Issue 18 , 28 September 2013 , pp. 2650 - 2659
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Vincent, J.F.V. and Wegst, U.G.K.: Design and mechanical properties of insect cuticle. Arthropod Struct. Dev. 33, 187 (2004).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weis-Fogh, T.: A rubber-like protein in insect cuticle. J. Exp. Biol. 37, 889 (1960).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vincent, J.F.V.: Arthropod cuticle: A natural composite shell system. Composites Part A 33, 1311 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vincent, J.F.V.: Structural Biomaterials (Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1990).Google Scholar
Shewry, P.R., Tatham, A.S., and Bailey, A.: Elastomeric Proteins: Structures, Biomechanical Properties, and Biological Roles (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, P.L.: Respiration in the desert locust. II. The control of the spiracles. J. Exp. Biol. 37, 237 (1960).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burrows, M.: Morphology and action of the hind leg joints controlling jumping in froghopper insects. J. Exp. Biol. 209, 4622 (2006).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neff, D., Frazier, S.F., Quimby, L., Wang, R-T., and Zill, S.: Identification of resilin in the leg of cockroach, Periplaneta americana: Confirmation by a simple method using pH dependence of UV fluorescence. Arthropod Struct. Dev. 29, 75 (2000).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enders, S., Barbakadze, N., Gorb, S.N., and Arzt, E.: Exploring biological surfaces by nanoindentation. J. Mater. Res. 19, 880 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barbakadze, N., Enders, S., Gorg, S., and Artz, E.: Local mechanical properties of the head articulation cuticle in the beetle Pachnoda marginata (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). J. Exp. Biol. 209, 722 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, J., Tong, J., and Ma, Y.: Nanomechanical behaviours of cuticle of three kinds of beetle. J. Bionic Eng. 5, 152 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, S.O. and Weis-Fogh, T.: Resilin, a rubber like protein in arthropod. Adv. Insect Physiol. 2, 1 (1964).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odegard, G.M., Gates, T.S., and Herring, H.M.: Characterization of viscoelastic properties of polymeric materials through nanoindentation. Exp. Mech. 45, 130 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Syed Asif, S.A., Wahl, K.J., and Colton, R.J.: Nanoindentation and contact stiffness measurement using force modulation with a capacitive load-displacement transducer. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70, 2408 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, W.C. and Pharr, G.M.: An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments. J. Mater. Res. 7, 1564 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreuz, P., Kesel, A., Kempf, A., Göken, M., Vehoff, H., and Nachtigall, W.: Mechnische Eigenschaften biologischer Materialien am Beispiel Insektenflügel. BIONA Rep. 14, 201 (1999).Google Scholar
Weis-Fogh, T.: Thermodynamic properties of resilin, a rubber-like protein. J. Mol. Biol. 3, 658 (1961).Google Scholar
Jensen, M. and Weis-Fogh, T.: Biology and physics of locust flight V. Strength and elasticity of locust cuticle. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. B 245, 137 (1962).Google Scholar
King, R.J.: Dynamic mechanical properties of resilin. M.S. thesis (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2010).Google Scholar
Socha, R. and Zemek, R.; Locomotor activity in adult Pyrrhocoris apterus (Heteroptera) in relation to sex, physiological status and wing dimorphism. Physiol. Entomol. 25, 383 (2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Socha, R. and Zemek, R.: Wing morph-related differences in the walking pattern and dispersal in a flightless bug, Pyrrhocoris apterus (Heteroptera). Oikos 100, 35 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dudek, D.M. and Full, R.J.: Passive mechanical properties of legs from running insects. J. Exp. Biol. 209, 1502 (2006).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, J.T., Ritzmann, R.E., Zill, S.N., and Pollack, A.J.: Control of obstacle climbing in the cockroach, Blaberus discoidalis I. Kinematics. J. Comp. Physiol. 188, 39 (2002).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cruse, H. and Bartling, C.: Movement of joint angles in the legs of a walking insect, Carausius morosus. J. Insect Physiol. 41, 761 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitra, C.M.: Life history trade-offs and phenotypic plasticity: A tale of a flight polyphenic cricket. Ph.D. dissertation (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2011).Google Scholar
Raabe, D., Sachs, C., and Romano, P.: The crustacean exoskeleton as an example of a structurally and mechanically graded biological nanocomposite material. Acta Mater. 53, 4281 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyers, M.A., Chen, P-Y., Lin, A.Y-M., and Seki, Y.: Biological materials: Structure and mechanical properties. Prog. Mater. Sci. 53, 1 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seto, J., Gupta, H.S., Zaslansky, P., Wagner, H.D., and Fratzl, P.: Tough lessons from bone: Extreme mechanical anisotropy at the mesoscale. Adv. Funct. Mater. 18, 1905 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, D. and Barber, A.H.: Optimized nanoscale composite behaviour in limpet teeth. J. R. Soc. Interface 9, 1318 (2012).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed