Abstract
Collagen type I is the most abundant protein in mammals. It confers mechanical stability, strength and toughness to a range of tissues from tendons and ligaments, to skin, cornea, bone and dentin. These tissues have quite different mechanical requirements, some need to be elastic or to store mechanical energy and others need to be stiff and tough. This shows the versatility of collagen as a building material. While in some cases (bone and dentin) the stiffness is increased by the inclusion of mineral, the mechanical properties are, in general, adapted by a modification of the hierarchical structure rather than by a different chemical composition. The basic building block of collagen-rich tissues is the collagen fibril, a fiber with 50 to a few hundred nanometer thickness. These fibrils are then assembled to a variety of more complex structures with very different mechanical properties. As a general introduction to the book, the hierarchical structure and the mechanical properties of some collagen-rich tissues are briefly discussed. In addition, this chapter gives elementary definitions of some basic mechanical quantities needed throughout the book, such as stress, strain, stiffness, strength and toughness.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
Bader D, Lee D (2000) Structure-properties of soft tissues. Articular Cartilage. Chapter 4, pp. 73–104 in: M. Elices,Ed. Structural Biological Materials: Design and Structure Property Relationships. Pergamon: Amsterdam.
Cowin SC (2001) Bone Mechanics Handbook. CRC Press: Boca Raton.
Currey JD (2002) Bones – Structure and Mechanics. Princeton University Press: Princeton.
Elices M, Ed. (2000) Structural Biological Materials, Design and Structure-Property Relationships. Pergamon: Amsterdam.
Fratzl P (2003) Cellulose and collagen: from fibres to tissues. Curr Opin Coll Interf Sci 8:32–39.
Fratzl P, Gupta HS, Paschalis EP, Roschger P (2004) Structure and mechanical quality of the collagen-mineral nano-composite in bone. J Mater Chem 14:2115–2123.
Fratzl P, Weinkamer R (2007) Nature’s hierarchical materials. Prog Mater Sci 52:1263–1334.
Gibson LJ, Ashby MF (1999) Cellular Solids, Structure and Properties. 2nd.edition, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Giraud-Guille MM (1988) Twisted Plywood Architecture of Collagen Fibrils in Human Compact-Bone Osteons. Calcif Tissue Inf 42:167–180.
Gupta HS, Seto J, Wagermaier W, Zaslansky P, Boesecke P, Fratzl P (2006)Cooperative deformation of mineral and collagen in bone at the nanoscale. PNAS 103:17741–17746.
Hull D, Clyne TW (1996) An Introduction to Composite Materials, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Lawn BR (1993) Fracture of Brittle Solids, 2nd edition. Cambridge Solid State Science Series, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Mattheck C (1998) Design in Nature: Learning from Trees. Springer-Verlag:Berlin; New York.
Misof K, Landis WJ, Klaushofer K, Fratzl P (1997) Collagen from the osteogenesis imperfecta mouse model shows reduced resistance against tensile stress. J Clin Invest 100:40–45.
Niklas KJ (1992) Plant biomechanics: an Engineering Approach to Plant form and Function. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
Peterlik H, Roschger P, Klaushofer K, Fratzl P (2006) From brittle to ductile fracture of bone. Nat Mater 5:52–55.
Puxkandl R, Zizak I, Paris O, Keckes J, Tesch W, Bernstorff S, Purslow P, Fratzl P (2002) Viscoelastic properties of collagen: sunchrofron radiation investigations and structural model. Phil Trans Roy Soc London B 357:191–197.
Tirrell DA, Ed. (1994) Hierarchical Structures in Biology as a Guide for new Materials Technology. National Academy Press: Washington.
Shewry PR, Tatham AS, Bailey AJ, Eds. (2003) Elastomeric Proteins,Structures, Biomechanical Properties, and Biological Roles.Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Vincent JFV (1990) Structural Biomaterials, Princeton University Press:Princeton.
Wainwright SA, Biggs WD, Currey JD, Gosline JM (1982) Mechanical Design in Organisms. Princeton University Press: Princeton.
Waite JH, Vaccaro E, Sun C, Lucas J (2003) Chapter 10, pp. 189–212, in Shewry et al. 2003.
Weiner S, Wagner HD (1998) The material bone: Structure mechanical function relations. Ann Rev Mater Sci 28:271–298.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fratzl, P. (2008). Collagen: Structure and Mechanics, an Introduction. In: Fratzl, P. (eds) Collagen. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73906-9_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73906-9_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-73905-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-73906-9
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)