In bone, the proportions of protein and mineral are roughly equal – the mineral gives bone stiffness and hardness, while the protein gives it toughness or resistance to fracture. While bones can break, it is relatively rare, and they have the benefit of being self-healing [...]
“All of our existing building standards have been designed with concrete and steel in mind. Constructing buildings out of entirely new materials would mean completely rethinking the whole industry."
— cam.ac.uk
Bioengineer Dr. Michelle Oyen of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering and her lab are working on ways to build artificial compounds that mimic bone and eggshell. Eventually, once scaled up, the compounds could be used as building materials.
When the mineral compounds are "templated" onto the naturally occurring animal protein of collagen, Oyen believes that the two materials could make a "lattice-type structure," stronger than the bone itself. Because this combination takes far less energy to produce than say steel or concrete, it could be used as a more energy efficient building material.
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