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Wednesday, 23 January 2013

Abalone Nacre

hen Kenneth Vecchio was a boy in the 70's, racing around Atlantic Beach on Long Island, he could not believe how hard it was to break seashells. "They looked fragile, but I'd have to hit some of them with a hammer to get a piece off," he recalled.Now a mechanical and aerospace engineer at the University of California, San Diego, Dr. Vecchio still marvels at seashells, but he now uses them for practical inspiration. His aim is to create synthetic materials that match what nature has cranked out in stupendous quantities since hard-shelled marine life appeared 600 million years ago.
He and others in his line are not there yet, but they are getting better.