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This 3D rendering, created from computed tomography scans of the mid-section region of the diabolical armored beetle, was x-rayed at the Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source. This region, known as the medial suture, is where you connect the two halves of the beetle’s exoskeleton. (Credit: Jesus Rivera / UC Irvine)
Trampled on by a hiking boot? It’s not a problem. Run over by a car? All right.
The aptly named evil armored beetle can take a bombardment thanks to the incredibly crush-resistant architecture of its exoskeleton, which could serve as a model for designing stronger materials and stronger connections between different types of materials.
To see, in microscopic detail, what makes the beetle so uniquely armored, the researchers used an X-ray imaging technique at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS) synchrotron and other techniques, to explore a protective cover known as “elytra”, its abdomen and other parts.
In flying cockroaches and other insects, elytra serves as a cover for their wings, although the fiendish armored beetle is unable to fly, and researchers have learned that its elytra play an important function in protecting its internal organs from crushing.
These images show the diabolical armored beetle (top left) and how its abdomen (top center and right) contains an internal architecture (bottom) with puzzle-like joints (bottom left) where the two halves of its exoskeleton come together making it incredibly crush resistant. (Credit: UC Irvine)
“Being able to study the internal structure, in 3D and in high resolution, was critical to observing and understanding the structures,” said Dula Parkinson, an ALS staff scientist, co-author of the study, led by UC. Riverside researchers and published in Nature.
Parkinson, along with fellow ALS and study co-author Harold Barnard, used a 3D imaging technique known as X-ray microtomography to see the microscopic architecture of the beetle – and specifically the areas with interlocking parts – at different stages of compression. .
This chart shows how the devil beetle (light blue lines) can withstand extreme compression compared to other types of beetles (green, dark blue and purple lines). (Credit: UC Irvine)
The study found that diabolical armored beetles can withstand compression up to 39,000 times their body weight – a load greater than what an adult human can generate by pressing their thumb and forefinger together and about 75 percent greater than that. which can bear comparable beetles.
“ALS was important for visualizing the internal fracture of the microstructure and capturing possible hardening mechanisms,” said Jesus Rivera, lead author of the study. Rivera participated in the study while at UC Riverside and is now at UC Irvine. “The combination of great staff to help with equipment setup, fast scan times, and use of the mechanical stage has resulted in a wealth of experience that enabled this research.”
The ALS is a facility for users of the DOE Office of Science.
The study was supported by the Air Force Scientific Research Office, the Army Research Bureau, and the Global Innovation Research Institute at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.
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Read the related UC Irvine press release on the study: “UCI Materials Scientists Uncover Design Secrets of Nearly Indestructible Insect”, October 21, 2020.
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