A Model of Sheath of Bovine Horn Coupled Nano-Mechanical Properties and Microstructures

Abstract

With the long-term evolution, the bovine horn as the primary protective and offensive weapon has superior mechanical properties. The bovine horn consists of two parts, the keratinous horn sheath and the bony core. The keratinous is natural composite material with a highly toughness and can bear impact and repeated loads during fighting. It has a complex hierarchical microarchitecture. To establish the qualitative model for finding the possible relationship between structure and mechanical properties of bovine horn, in this paper, the model was established that based on the parameters provided by microstructure imaging and nanoindentation testing from transverse and longitudinal directions. Which would provide information useful for the developing bionic composite materials for micro-aircraft, bionic tribology, bionic medical apparatus and bionic organs (tissue engineering).