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Beetle’s Elytra Inspired Structure Design and Its Mechanical Properties Investigation

Ce Guo

Abstract


Based on the microstructure on the cross section of the beetle’s elytra, three bio-inspired lightweight structures were designed. The mechanical properties of three lightweight structures were studied with finite element method and the specific strength/specific stiffness of three structures were compared. At the same time, quasi-static compression experiments and three-point bending test on the structure models were carried out. Comparison of the experimental results with the finite element analysis results showed the effectiveness of the finite element analysis, at last an optimization design was performed to further improve the mechanical properties of bio-inspired  lightweight structure.

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21535%2FProICIUS.2010.v6.459

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