Fordecades,nacrehasinspiredresearchersbecauseofitssophisticatedhierarchicalstructureandremarkablemechanicalproperties,especiallyitsextremefracturetoughnesscomparedwiththatofitspredominantconstituent,CaCO3,intheformofaragonite.Crackdeflectionhasbeenextensivelyreportedandregardedastheprincipaltougheningmechanismfornacre.Inthispaper,ourattentionisfocusedoncrackevolutioninnacreunderaquasi-staticstate.Weusethenotchedthree-pointbendingtestofdehydratednacreinsituinascanningelectronmicroscope(SEM)tomonitortheevolutionofdamagemechanismsaheadofthecracktip.Theobservationsshowthatthecrackdeflectionactuallyoccursbyconstrainedmicrocracking.Onthebasisofourfindings,acrackpropagationmodelisproposed,whichwillcontributetouncoveringtheunderlyingmechanismsofnacre’sfracturetoughnessanditsdamageevolution.Theseinvestigationswouldbeofgreatvaluetothedesignandsynthesisofnovelbiomimeticmaterials.
