Mechanical Simulation of Hierarchical Micro-Nano Structure of Butterfly Wings

The ridge-cross rib microstructures of Carystoides escalantei butterfly wing scales have been reproduced by 2 D and 3 D models via the ANSYS software, and the structural analyses under tensile and bending deformation, as well as the relative failure analyses are performed for those models. It has been found that the curved model in which the ridges acted as triangular prisms while the cross-ribs acted as bend cuboids could simulate the real scale configuration more accurately. Besides, it also shows much more even stress distribution under deformation and better mechanical properties than the rectangular one, in which both ridges and cross-ribs are modeled as regular cuboids.