Biological Paragons for the Development of Light-Weight-Materials

Plants possess many structural and functional properties that have a potential to serve as paragons for the development of new technical materials and structures. Three examples from nature serve to demonstrate how light-weight-materials should be designed to withstand high dynamic loading. Particular emphasis is given to the problem of oscillation damping, that minimizes the danger of a resonance catastrophe and is therefore essential for the survival of plants and for the stability of technical materials.