Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 29: Posters: Biopolymers \& Biomaterials
BP 29.25: Poster
Thursday, March 17, 2011, 17:15–20:00, P3
Determination of the crystalline part within the cuticle of the isopods Porcellio scaber and Tylos europaeus determined by Raman spectroscopy — Katja Huemer1, •Sabine Hild1, Bastian Seidel2, and Andreas Ziegler2 — 1Institute of Polymer Science, Johannes Kepler University, Altenbergerstrasse 69, 4040 Linz, Austria — 22 Central Facility for Electron Microscopy, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89069 Ulm, Germany
The exceptional properties of biological composites, such as the exoskeleton of crustaceans, are based on a complex hierarchical architecture of inorganic and organic components which are organized at different structural levels ranging from the nano- to the meso-scale. The cuticle of crustaceans is an excellent model to study biological composite materials that consists of an organic matrix composed of chitin-protein fibers associated with various amounts of crystalline and amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC). Using the combination of SEM and sacnning confocal Raman microscopy (SCRM) for isopods, a sub-group of the Crustaceans- is was possible to show that mineral phases have a layered arrangement where calcite is restricted to the outer area of the cuticle and ACC is localized in the middle having only little overlap with the crystalline layer. Additionally, to the compositional distribution the SCRM investigations reveal the oriented growth of nanocrystalline calcite within the outer part of the crystalline layer of the cuticle, with homogenous layers seen for Porcellio scaber and a specific orientation pattern seen for Tylos europaeus.