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Diabolical ironclad beetles inspire tougher joints for engineering applications

Intriguing structures have been observed that link sections of the diabolical ironclad beetle’s amazingly crush-resistant armour. These findings suggest fresh approaches for making tough, reliable joints for use in engineering.
  1. Po-Yu Chen

    1. Po-Yu Chen is in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300044, Taiwan, Republic of China.

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The splendidly named diabolical ironclad beetle (Phloeodes diabolicus, Fig. 1) has an impressively tough exoskeleton — allowing it to survive attacks from predators, being stomped on by hikers and even being run over by cars. Writing in Nature, Rivera et al.1 reveal the secret of this beetle’s crush resistance. Using a combination of advanced microscopy, mechanical testing and computer simulations, the authors find that layered, jigsaw-like joints and a variety of support structures connect the various parts of the exoskeleton, accounting for its toughness.

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Nature 586, 502-504 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02840-1

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