spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif Online submission spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bonser, R.
Right arrow Articles by Purslow, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bonser, R.
Right arrow Articles by Purslow, P.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 198, Issue 4 1029-1033, Copyright © 1995 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

The Young's modulus of feather keratin

R Bonser and P Purslow

The flexural stiffness of the rachis varies along the length of a primary feather, between primaries and between species; the possible contribution of variations in the longitudinal Young's modulus of feather keratin to this was assessed. Tensile tests on compact keratin from eight species of birds belonging to different orders showed similar moduli (mean E=2.50 GPa) in all species apart from the grey heron (E=1.78 GPa). No significant differences were seen in the modulus of keratin from primaries 7­10 in any species. There was a systematic increase in the modulus distally along the length of the rachis from swan primary feathers. Dynamic bending tests on swan primary feather rachises also showed that the longitudinal elastic modulus increases with increasing frequency of bending over the range 0.1­10 Hz and decreases monotonically with increasing temperature over the range -50 to +50 °C. The position-, frequency- and temperature-dependent variations in the modulus are, however, relatively small. It is concluded that, in the species studied, the flexural stiffness of the whole rachis is principally controlled by its cross-sectional morphology rather than by the material properties of the keratin.




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1995