Dr Bin Zhu
Academic and research departments
Centre for Engineering Materials, School of Mechanical Engineering Sciences.About
Biography
Dr Bin Zhu is now a research fellow in Mechanical Engineering Sciences at the University of Surrey, UK. He has obtained his PhD at the University of Surrey, working at multiscale residual stress evaluation and mechanical property characterisation using both microscopy-related techniques and national large facilities. He is keen to develop the techniques for the harsh environments to meet the future test needs. He envisions enhancing material properties and longevity by managing residual stress that is induced during manufacturing.
ResearchResearch interests
- Multiscale residual stress evaluation.
- Multiscale in situ mechanical testing.
- Computation modelling for prediction of residual stress and mechanical properties.
Research interests
- Multiscale residual stress evaluation.
- Multiscale in situ mechanical testing.
- Computation modelling for prediction of residual stress and mechanical properties.
Publications
Despite the elaborate varieties of iridescent colors in biological species, most of them are reflective. Here we show the rainbow-like structural colors found in the ghost catfish (Kryptopterus vitreolus), which exist only in transmission. The fish shows flickering iridescence throughout the transparent body. The iridescence originates from the collective diffraction of light after passing through the periodic band structures of the sarcomeres inside the tightly stacked myofibril sheets, and the muscle fibers thus work as transmission gratings. The length of the sarcomeres varies from ~1 μm from the body neutral plane near the skeleton to ~2 μm next to the skin, and the iridescence of a live fish mainly results from the longer sarcomeres. The length of the sarcomere changes by ~80 nm as it relaxes and contracts, and the fish shows a quickly blinking dynamic diffraction pattern as it swims. While similar diffraction colors are also observed in thin slices of muscles from non-transparent species such as the white crucian carps, a transparent skin is required indeed to have such iridescence in live species. The ghost catfish skin is of a plywood structure of collagen fibrils, which allows more than 90% of the incident light to pass directly into the muscles and the diffracted light to exit the body. Our findings could also potentially explain the iridescence in other transparent aquatic species, including the eel larvae (Leptocephalus) and the icefishes (Salangidae).