Abstract
There exist numerous instances of natural materials with hierarchical and layered microstructures having superior mechanical and functional properties. An example of such a material is nacre, which is a tough natural composite found in the inner part of many seashells. This preliminary study aimed to obtain an understanding of the flexural strength and ductility of bio-inspired cementitious samples inspired by the techniques that nacre uses. In this work, we fabricated and tested samples that contain polymeric layers sandwiched between cementitious layers, mimicking the layering of aragonite tablets and proteins found in nacre. Results of this preliminary study show that using the layering feature found in nacre can improve the flexural strength of mortar samples. In addition, increased ductility was observed in the nacre-inspired samples compared with control samples due to crack deflection and layers sliding. Finite element analysis was performed to probe the effect of geometries and mechanical properties on the flexural behavior of nacre-inspired cementitious beams.