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TY - THES AU - Vihar, Boštjan TI - Mimicking the abrasion resistant sandfish epidermis PB - Aachen, Techn. Hochsch. VL - Dissertation CY - Aachen M1 - RWTH-2015-05110 SP - VIII, 115 S. : Ill., graph Darst. PY - 2015 N1 - Aachen, Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2015 AB - The sand inhabiting skink Scincus scincus has due to its sand swimming behaviour gained some attention by the research community in recent years. The sand swimming creates ample stress on the outer layers of its skin, generating the prospect of wear. The skin itself is however very resilient towards abrasion and even facilitates smoother movement by reducing friction against the sharp sand particles. Past research has concentrated much on the characterization of structure and surface properties of the skin, however, a complete understanding of its properties is lacking up to date. In this work, a review of known data is done in addition to new measurements concerning surface properties, composition, ultrastructure and mechanics, but also other feats such as optical properties. Replication of änti-adhesive" properties on existing technical materials was tested along with the development of new techniques for such endeavour. Chemical and structural analysis shows the epidermis of the sandfish is very homogeneous and is mainly composed of compact bundles of beta keratins, which are possibly interlinked by a matrix composed of alpha keratins. Strong glycosylation of the keratins was shown, confirming previous studies, and five glycan structures were observed in the analysis. The occurrence of glycans could also be linked with the surface properties concerning surface energy and adhesion of the epidermis towards sand. Mechanical properties of the sandfish epidermis were shown to be similar to some artificial polymers which will be interesting for the replication of the sandfish epidermis from artificial materials. The surface micro structure of the sandfish epidermis has been shown to promote diffraction of light. This might suggest possible light trapping or dispersion behaviour, which could not be conclusively confirmed. Finally, we propose a hypothesis on abrasion resistance and friction reduction, which is possibly the result of an interplay between mechanical and chemical properties of both keratins and glycans. However, additional research will be required to confirm the proposed mechanism. LB - PUB:(DE-HGF)11 UR - https://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/538206 ER -