Inspiration from Nature's body armours – A review of biological and bioinspired composites

Abstract

Designing and manufacturing multi-functional, lightweight and high-performance body armour materials and assemblies have attracted intense attention recently due to fast-growing military applications. There is an urgent need to reduce the weight and increase the flexibility of body armours without compromising their ballistic protection capability. Natural/biological armour materials and assemblies offer remarkable properties that can inspire the design of lightweight, flexible and tough body armours. In this paper, a systematic review is conducted to identify the structural-mechanical characteristics of selected biological armour systems such as nacre from mollusc shells, conch shells and f..