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The Topology of the Leg Joints of the Beetle Pachnoda marginata (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) and Its Implication for the Tribological Properties

Locomotion of walking insects is exceptionally efficient. The function of their leg joints in different movement scenarios depends on their kinematics and contacting conditions between moving parts. The kinematics was previously studied in some insects, but contact mechanics within the joints remain...

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Autores principales: Vagts, Steffen, Schlattmann, Josef, Kovalev, Alexander, Gorb, Stanislav N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6352703/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31105234
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics3020012
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author Vagts, Steffen
Schlattmann, Josef
Kovalev, Alexander
Gorb, Stanislav N.
author_facet Vagts, Steffen
Schlattmann, Josef
Kovalev, Alexander
Gorb, Stanislav N.
author_sort Vagts, Steffen
collection PubMed
description Locomotion of walking insects is exceptionally efficient. The function of their leg joints in different movement scenarios depends on their kinematics and contacting conditions between moving parts. The kinematics was previously studied in some insects, but contact mechanics within the joints remains largely unknown. In order to understand the complex topology of the contacting surfaces of the leg joints in the Congo rose beetle Pachnoda marginata peregrina (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae), we have investigated the shape, the waviness, and the roughness of the joint base and its counter body by applying confocal laser scanning microscopy and white light interferometry. Additionally, we performed nanoindentation tests on the contacting joint surfaces, in order to analyze material properties (elasticity modulus and hardness) of the joint cuticle. We found two topological design principles of the contact surfaces that might be considered as adaptations for reducing frictional drag during leg movements. First, the contact pairs of all leg joints studied consist of convex and concave counterparts. Second, there is a smooth and a rough surface in contact in which microprotuberances are present on the rough surface. These principles might be potentially interesting for technical implications, to design bioinspired joints with both reduced friction and wear rate.
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spelling pubmed-63527032019-05-16 The Topology of the Leg Joints of the Beetle Pachnoda marginata (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) and Its Implication for the Tribological Properties Vagts, Steffen Schlattmann, Josef Kovalev, Alexander Gorb, Stanislav N. Biomimetics (Basel) Article Locomotion of walking insects is exceptionally efficient. The function of their leg joints in different movement scenarios depends on their kinematics and contacting conditions between moving parts. The kinematics was previously studied in some insects, but contact mechanics within the joints remains largely unknown. In order to understand the complex topology of the contacting surfaces of the leg joints in the Congo rose beetle Pachnoda marginata peregrina (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae), we have investigated the shape, the waviness, and the roughness of the joint base and its counter body by applying confocal laser scanning microscopy and white light interferometry. Additionally, we performed nanoindentation tests on the contacting joint surfaces, in order to analyze material properties (elasticity modulus and hardness) of the joint cuticle. We found two topological design principles of the contact surfaces that might be considered as adaptations for reducing frictional drag during leg movements. First, the contact pairs of all leg joints studied consist of convex and concave counterparts. Second, there is a smooth and a rough surface in contact in which microprotuberances are present on the rough surface. These principles might be potentially interesting for technical implications, to design bioinspired joints with both reduced friction and wear rate. MDPI 2018-06-08 /pmc/articles/PMC6352703/ /pubmed/31105234 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics3020012 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Vagts, Steffen
Schlattmann, Josef
Kovalev, Alexander
Gorb, Stanislav N.
The Topology of the Leg Joints of the Beetle Pachnoda marginata (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) and Its Implication for the Tribological Properties
title The Topology of the Leg Joints of the Beetle Pachnoda marginata (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) and Its Implication for the Tribological Properties
title_full The Topology of the Leg Joints of the Beetle Pachnoda marginata (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) and Its Implication for the Tribological Properties
title_fullStr The Topology of the Leg Joints of the Beetle Pachnoda marginata (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) and Its Implication for the Tribological Properties
title_full_unstemmed The Topology of the Leg Joints of the Beetle Pachnoda marginata (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) and Its Implication for the Tribological Properties
title_short The Topology of the Leg Joints of the Beetle Pachnoda marginata (Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae) and Its Implication for the Tribological Properties
title_sort topology of the leg joints of the beetle pachnoda marginata (scarabaeidae, cetoniinae) and its implication for the tribological properties
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6352703/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31105234
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics3020012
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