Engineered Materials: Bioinspired "Good Enough" versus Maximized Performance

What is it about?

Do you always have to optimize everything? This is common practice in technology. In nature, however, "good enough" is sometimes better than "perfect". Science can learn a lot from this. New records are constantly being set in materials research: even stronger, even harder or even more elastic materials, maximum load-bearing capacity with the lowest possible density. Complex high-performance composites push the boundaries of what is technically feasible. In nature, however, things are usually different: it does not necessarily produce materials with extreme material properties, but also takes properties such as durability, reparability and reusability into account. The best bone is not necessarily the hardest, but perhaps the one that heals as quickly as possible. Research into biogenic materials is being carried out at TU Wien - and the extent to which these basic principles can be taken into account in science and technology has now been investigated. The results have been published in the journal "Advanced Functional Materials".

Featured Image

Photo by Jan Huber on Unsplash

Photo by Jan Huber on Unsplash

Why is it important?

We need to change our approach to materials - they get more and more sophisticated, but important aspects regarding reuse and recyclability need to be changed. This perspective article gives suggestions how this can be improved.

Perspectives