A remarkable composite material has been made that mimics the structure of tooth enamel. This achievement opens up the exploration of new composite materials and of computational methods that reliably predict their properties. See Letter p.95
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 /Â 30Â days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Notes
References
Nylen, M. U., Eanes, E. D. & Omnell, K. A. J. Cell Biol. 18, 109–123 (1963).
He, L. H. & Swain, M. V. J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater. 1, 18–29 (2008).
Yeom, B. et al. Nature 543, 95–98 (2017).
Ritchie, R. O. Nature Mater. 10, 817–822 (2011).
Fratzl, P. & Weinkamer, R. Prog. Mater. Sci. 52, 1263–1334 (2007).
Meyers, M. A., McKittrick, J. & Chen, P.-Y. Science 339, 773–779 (2013).
Weaver, J. C. et al. Science 336, 1275–1280 (2012).
Mao, L.-B. et al. Science 354, 107–110 (2016).
Espinosa, H. D. et al. Nature Commun. 2, 173 (2011).
Qin, Z., Jung, G. S., Kang, M. J. & Buehler, M. J. Sci. Adv. 3, e1601536 (2017).
Beese, A. M. et al. Adv. Funct. Mater. 24, 2883–2891 (2014).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Related links
Related links
Related links in Nature Research
Materials science: Gating mechanism under pressure
Materials science: Synthetic polymers with biological rigidity
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Espinosa, H., Soler-Crespo, R. Lessons from tooth enamel. Nature 543, 42–43 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/543042a
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/543042a
This article is cited by
-
A review of biomimetic research for erosion wear resistance
Bio-Design and Manufacturing (2020)
-
Learning the initial mechanical response of composite material: structure evolution and energy profile of a plastic bonded explosive under rapid loading
Journal of Molecular Modeling (2019)
-
Wood-inspired engineering materials
Science China Materials (2018)