Integrating ultrastructural diffraction imaging and multiscale modelling to unveil the nanoscale mechanics of arthropod cuticle in bending

Determining the mechano-structural relations in biological materials with hierarchical structure is crucial to understanding natural optimization strategies and designing functional bioinspired composites. However, measuring the nanoscale mechanics and dynamic response is challenging when the specimen geometry and loading environment are physiologically complex. To overcome this challenge, we develop a combination of synchrotron X-ray diffraction testing and analytical modelling to explore the mechano-structural changes during bending loads on stomatopod cuticle. Stomatopod cuticle is an example of a hierarchical biomaterial optimized for high impact and bending resistance. Using models for large deformations of elastic continua, we measure cuticle strains from macroscopic deformations and combine diffraction-based fibril strains with stresses to quantify the local elastic moduli and nanoscale strain concentration factors, which are found to vary across cuticle sub-regions and under different flexion loading modes. This approach has the advantage of identifying constituent biomaterial properties and mechanisms <i>in situ</i> and is also suitable for studying time-dependent changes, such as concurrent strains of the nanofibrous phase that occur during physiological loading.