Nacre (/ ˈneɪkər / NAY-kər, also / ˈnækrə / NAK-rə), [1] also known as mother-of-pearl, is an organic–inorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer. It is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.

Oct 24, 2019 · Few composite materials forged by nature are as tough as mother-of-pearl, or nacre. Now, scientists have finally figured out just how the minuscule layers of this pearlescent substance make it so strong.

Oct 30, 2020 · MIT engineers developed a technique to characterize the makeup of nacre, a natural material found in shells. The researchers combined micro-indentation and piezo-Raman to quantify the performance of the material.

Oct 23, 2019 · ANN ARBOR—Nacre, the rainbow-sheened material that lines the insides of mussel and other mollusk shells, is known as nature’s toughest material. Now, a team of researchers led by the University of Michigan has revealed precisely how it works, in real time.

Nacre (known as mother of pearl) is the iridescent inner shell layer of some mollusks. Nacre is composed of 95 wt% aragonite (a crystallographic form of CaCO 3) and 5 wt% organic materials (proteins and polysaccharides).

Sep 1, 2006 · This work gives an overview of our research that describes quantitatively the specific role of many details of structure in nacre on the stress–strain response with an attempt to identify key strengthening and toughening mechanisms in nacre.

Oct 1, 2023 · Recent research advances have led to the fabrication of nacre-inspired hierarchical structured fibres, films, and bulk composite materials. This review discusses the chemistry of nacre formation, the details of brick-and-mortar structure, …

Aug 18, 2016 · Here, we describe a mesoscale “assembly-and-mineralization” approach inspired by the natural process in mollusks to fabricate bulk synthetic nacre that highly resembles both the chemical composition and the hierarchical structure of natural nacre.

Feb 8, 2021 · Nacre, the iridescent material that lines mollusk shells such as mother-of-pearl and abalone, has long been a prized find of beachcombers and shell collectors, due to the natural beauty and variety of color that can be found therein.

Feb 18, 2019 · Here, the authors report a nacre-mimetic composite obtained by infiltrating a switchable Diels-Alder network polymer into a scaffold of alumina capable of self-healing internal damage.