Could Bio-Inspired Nacre-Like Ceramics be Suitable to Fabricate Musical Instruments?

Abstract

In the past, natural ceramic biomaterials like bones and seashells were used to make music. Today, ceramics are largely absent from the musical scene. Yet, recent development of bio-inspired ceramics could be used to create musical instruments that emulate sound from ancient times, that do not make use of endangered animal species or that enable exploration of new types of music. In this paper, the question of whether bio-inspired ceramics would be suitable for usage in musical instrument is posed. The study focusses on nacre-like alumina ceramics of various compositions and their suitability to be used, fabricated, and to produce sound are discussed based on materials’ properties. It is found that flat pieces could be produced with high throughput for making idiophones or parts of musical instruments to increase the sound radiance, for example, and that complex shapes could be produced by a craftsperson to reproduce other musical instruments’ designs or create new ones using 3D printing technologies. The potential application of such ceramics for music could also open ideas in architecture where tiles are used, for example. Future work to enable these applications should be on more thorough characterisation of dynamic properties according to standards, scaled-up and reliable fabrication processes, and evaluation of the sound produced.