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Investigation of mechanical properties of tibia and femur articulations of insect joints with different joint functions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2019

Jun Kyun Oh Open the ORCID record for Jun Kyun Oh [Opens in a new window] ,
Spencer T. Behmer ,
Richelle Marquess ,
Ethan A. Scholar  and
Mustafa Akbulut
Jun Kyun Oh*
Affiliation:
Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Dankook University, 152 Jukjeon-ro, Suji-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 16890, Republic of Korea
Spencer T. Behmer
Affiliation:
Departmentof Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Richelle Marquess
Affiliation:
Departmentof Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Ethan A. Scholar
Affiliation:
Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Mustafa Akbulut*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
*
Address all correspondence to Jun Kyun Oh at junkyunoh@dankook.ac.kr and Mustafa Akbulut at makbulut@tamu.edu
Address all correspondence to Jun Kyun Oh at junkyunoh@dankook.ac.kr and Mustafa Akbulut at makbulut@tamu.edu
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Abstract

Insects have more than a million described species and represent more than half of all known living organisms. However, little is known about the operation and functions of the insect body, particularly their remarkable leg joints. This study is focused on partly filling this knowledge gap by using nanoindentation instruments to characterize the mechanical properties of leg joints from three different insects: a beetle, a mantis, and a dragonfly nymph. For all insect species, the tibia joint had the largest effective elastic moduli, followed by the femur joint, while the exocuticle had the smallest values.

Type
Research Letters
Information
MRS Communications , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , September 2019 , pp. 900 - 903
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2019 

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