The Microindentation Behavior of Several Mollusk Shells

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Abstract
An investigation of the relationship between structure and mechanical behavior is reported for mollusk shells employing foliated, nacreous, and crossed-lamellar structures by microindentation in the Knoop and Vickers geometries. Indentation damage zones develop crack systems that reflect the micro-architecture. For the crossed-lamellar structure, the system of cracks about the indentation normally developed in a brittle material is suppressed. Previous reports that shells are harder than the corresponding minerals, calcite and aragonite, are confirmed, but it is found that this effect can be strongly dependent on orientation. This anomalous hardness is not an artifact of the identation test technique, since scratch tests confirm the relative hardness of shell over the mineral. It is suggested that microstructural organization is of central importance in producing this hardness, as opposed to intrinsic properties of the mineral or matrix phases.

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