Page 13 - Fiber Fracture

X PREFACE
Fiber microstmctures span structural details that differ by several orders of
magnitude. This makes it difficult to sort out the main structures responsible for
the mechanical response one is looking for and this task is more involved when dealing
with imperfections. In fibers - and in particular in biological fibers exhibiting highly
hierarchical structures - we can find differences in length scales up to five orders of
magnitude; from the macromolecular level (1 nm) up to macroscopic level (0.1 mm).
This is the same relative difference between the size of a person and the “diameter”
of the island of Mallorca, where this Workshop took place (see figure). Looking at the
beautiful mountains, landscapes and beaches, it is hard to imagine that fracture may be
triggered by defects of human size.