As more stratum corneum sheets are formed at the stratum basale, the outer stratum corneum (left) is pushed outwards, develops stress and eventually cracks (right). In this example, the thickness of the inner stratum corneum is increased by ~2μm per step (i.e., ε≈2μm). The thickness of the outer stratum corneum (h) is ~20μm, and the elongation at break (εc) is 0.3.
From the article:
‘Locally-Curved Geometry Generates Bending Cracks in The African Elephant Skin’
by Martins, Bennett, Clavel, Groenewald, Hensman, Hoby, Joris, Manger & Milinkovitch.
Nature Communications (2018)
DOI : 10.1038/s41467-018-06257-3
[ Ссылка ]
For correspondence:
Prof. Michel C. Milinkovitch, Laboratory of Artificial & Natural Evolution (LANE)
[ Ссылка ]
Dept. of Genetics & Evolution,
University of Geneva, Switzerland.
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