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Microstructure of the wings of dragonfly Pantala flavescens fabricius and finite element analysis of its mechanical property

YANRU ZHAO1,* , JIN TONG2, JIYU SUN2

Affiliation

  1. The C ollege of Mechanical and Power Engineer i ng, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454000, P. R. Chin a
  2. The Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering Ministry of Educatio n, China) and the College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University Nanling Campus Changchun 13002 2 , P. R. China

Abstract

The dragonfly Pantala flavescens Fabricius has excellent flying capacity and its’ wings are typical 2 dimensional composite materials in micro scale or nano scale. The microstructure of wings of Pantala flavescens Fabricius was examined by stereomicroscopy, laser confocal scanning microscopy (LCSM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that there are some microtrichias on the veins and the wings’ membrane of the dragonfly is smooth. There is a wax layer existing and some scratches distributing on the surface of the wings’ membrane of the dragonfly. The wing surface has an irregular corrugation and become flat near the wing tip. The longitudinal veins are situated on the highest points and the lowest points of the wings’ corrugation and connected by the cross veins and membranes to form a dimensional truss structure. The veins of Pantala flavescens Fabricius wings are hollow and their cross sections are suborbicular. The wing membranes are combined with double layers of integument. The finite element models of dragonfly wing were established The stress and strain under the uniform load were analyzed. It was shown that the grid structures of the dragonfly wing with excellent structural rigidity have excellent integrity. The understanding of dragonfly wings’ structure would provide some reference for improving some properties of 2 dimentional composite materials through the biomimetic designs..

Keywords

Pantala flavescens Fabricius, Membranous wing, Surface topography,Microstructure, Finite element analysis.

Citation

YANRU ZHAO, JIN TONG, JIYU SUN, Microstructure of the wings of dragonfly Pantala flavescens fabricius and finite element analysis of its mechanical property, Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials - Rapid Communications, 8, 7-8, July-August 2014, pp.794-799 (2014).

Submitted at: Nov. 5, 2013

Accepted at: July 10, 2014