Advances in Biomimetic Composites and Design

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue, “Biomimetic Composites and Design”, will elucidate the latest advances in composite materials and design as inspired by biological materials, systems and connections. The focus of this Special Issue is on mechanical behaviour. Mechanical behaviour guides the way in which we design and use structures and components in a wide variety of industrial settings (e.g., aerospace, automotive, defence, renewable energy, biomedical, construction). High-end properties such as strength, stiffness, impact resistance, and fatigue life are important to couple to light weight, low cost and ease of manufacture. Composite materials are enablers of such couplings, but there remains considerable room for further advancements in the science, engineering and mechanical design of composites. Significant developments over recent decades in imaging, testing and modelling have brought to light the existence of specialised function-specific designs in Nature. Biological materials, systems and connections offer novel pathways to the innovation of composites, in terms of both design and manufacture. Original research papers, short communications presenting emerging techniques and review articles are solicited for this Special Issue, with particular focus in the following areas:

• Mechanical behaviour and properties (stress/strain/time relationships) of natural biological materials and joints, or engineered biomimetic materials and joints;
• Characterisation (material/chemical/physical) of biomimetic composites or biological materials in relation to mechanical behaviour;
• Fracture, failure and plasticity of biomimetic composites or biological materials;
• Geometrical design of biological materials or biomimetic materials/composites in relation to mechanical behaviour;
• The design of biomimetic engineered joints or natural biological joints in relation to mechanical behaviour;
• Three-dimensional printing/additive manufacturing of biomimetic geometries, biomimetic joints, or the geometrical design of biomimetic composites;
• Mechanical behaviour of cellular solids (in a biomimetic or biological context);
• Long-term fatigue/creep/wear of engineered biomimetic composites or natural biological materials;
• Novel measurement and modelling techniques to determine the mechanical behaviour and properties of engineered biomimetic composites and natural biological materials;
• Correlations between morphology/geometry and mechanics in terms of properties and behaviour (with specific focus on engineered biomimetic composites or natural biological designs).

Dr. Parvez Alam
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• biomimetic design
• composites
• biological materials
• additive manufacturing/3D printing
• fracture
• strength
• fatigue
• cellular solids
• mechanical design
• materials design
• bioinspired engineering
• mechanical behaviour