The process could lead to less expensive jewelry, as well as to materials for many applications.

Photo: Mother of pearl. Credit: Li-Bo Mao, Huai-Ling Gao, Yu-Feng Meng, Ning Yang and Si-Ming Chen, University of Science and Technology of China

Synthetic mother of pearl that is very similar to the real thing has just been manufactured by a team of researchers.

The process, described in a video and in the latest issue of the journal Science, could lead to less expensive jewelry, as well as to materials for a multitude of applications, given how strong, resilient and iridescent mother of pearl is.


Photo: A tiny block of synthetic nacre. Credit: Li-Bo Mao, Huai-Ling Gao, Yu-Feng Meng, Ning Yang and Si-Ming Chen,University of Science and Technology of China

Known to scientists as nacre, mother of pearl is the shiny coating found inside some mollusk shells and around pearls. Shellfish, such as oysters, produce it to help defend their ultra-soft tissues against parasites and debris. The nacre basically entombs the invaders in a process called encystation that continues throughout the marine dweller's life.

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If a larger object becomes wedged near the shell, blister pearls -- those attached to the interior -- can form. Most are more familiar with "free pearls," or those that form within the mollusk's soft tissues. Their creation, and that of nacre, is deceptively complex.

"Biological materials are built from limited components, but their mechanical performances such as strength and toughness are far beyond their artificial counterparts," lead author Li-Bo Mao of the University of Sciences and Technology of China and his team wrote.

Natural nacre consists of aragonite plates that grow into one another in a brick-and-mortar fashion through mineralization. Aragonite is a mineral made up of calcium carbonite. The "mortar" consists of a fibrous silk gel.

Mao and his colleagues designed a similar matrix with a system that allowed for gradual release of calcium carbonate. The slow release of the mineral offers a more uniform and natural formation of nacre than what exists in the current popular synthetic process, according to the scientists.

Here's how they did it:



While the material comes close to duplicating natural mother of pearl, it is not 100% the same thing, even though it is made out of the same materials and copies nature's process.

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Mao and his team admit that the aragonite platelets are slightly oversized, which can cause them to partially pop out of place like a brick shifting in a wall. This can make the nacre less crack resistant.

Nevertheless, the new method opens up some intriguing possibilities. As the researchers wrote, "… there are other techniques such as programmable 3-D printing for constructing predesigned macroscopic matrices that can be readily incorporated with our strategy to produce composite materials."

Something that I doubt scientists will ever be able to fully duplicate is the unpredictable variation that makes each bit of natural nacre unique. The lines, changes to iridescence, differences in thickness and other qualities are affected by the mollusk's diet, environment, genetic individuality, interaction with other species and more.

Seeker, 2016-08-18, Source: http://www.seeker.com/how-to-make-fake-mother-of-pearl-1977948785.html