University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Nature's Architecture

Leubbers, Sonya

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274416169_Q15_date_20250325_id_12298.jpg

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/128158

Description

Title
Nature's Architecture
Author(s)
Leubbers, Sonya
Issue Date
2025
Keyword(s)
  • dragonfly wing
  • cuticle
  • microstructures
Date of Ingest
2025-05-08T12:10:42-05:00
Abstract
Dragonflies are known for their remarkable flight capabilities. Their wings are pliable, designed to withstand bending and torsion. During flight, their wings are under countless cycles of these mechanical loads, and therefore require both rigidity and flexibility. Their wing’s veins have a beam-like structure with different hierarchical organizations of cuticular layers. Namely, epicuticle, exocuticle, mesocuticle, and endocuticle, respectively from the outer to the inner portions of the veins. Each have different orientations and material properties. These characteristics hence provide mechanical strength that can resist different types of loads. Our lab focuses on studying how the organism works at the macro- and micro-level. These types of microstructures can inspire the development of material composites as flexible as dragonfly wings. The images were taken using a scanning electron microscope at the Microscopy Suite at the Beckman Institute. The image shows a dragonfly wing vein and its cuticular multilayers at two different magnifications, and diagrams indicating the structures captured.
Type of Resource
  • still image
  • text
Language
eng
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2025 Sonya Luebbers

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