New insights into the Young's modulus of staggered biological composites

This communication presents a simplified mechanics-of-materials approach for describing the mechanics of staggered composite architectures, such as those arising in a variety of biological tissues. This analysis calculates the effective modulus of the bio-composite and provides physical insights into its elastic behavior. Simplified expressions for high- and low-mineralized tissues are then proposed and the effects of the mineral thickness ratio and aspect ratio on the modulus are demonstrated. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.