Interlocking composites have become increasingly popular in recent years. A key motivation is the impressive performance of natural interlocking protective structures. A large number of these structures – from human craniums to alligator armour – contain sutures; those are soft interfaces that join adjacent stiff plates with interdigitating protrusions. These interfaces have the potential to significantly tailor the behaviour of a structure by altering the suture geometry. Hence, sutures are a strong candidate for the biomimetic design of structures with tunable mechanical behaviour. The objective of this work is to investigate the dynamic mechanical behaviour and structure–property relationship of sutures by using finite element analysis. The focus is on behaviour during three dynamic loading scenarios: predator attack, locomotion and stress wave transfer. Additionally, these loading cases are applied to several suture geometries to investigate the suture’s structure–property relationship. The hyperelastic and viscoelastic behaviour of the sutures is taken into account. Among other insights, we show that sutures can be used to tailor a structure’s compliance during small deformations; tailor the degree of interlocking during larger deformations; and tailor the proportion of energy that is transferred from one plate to the next during stress wave propagation. Hence, this contribution provides insight into how sutures can be used to tailor the mechanical behaviour of structures that incur dynamic loading.

近年来，互锁复合材料变得越来越流行。一个关键的动机是自然互锁保护结构令人印象深刻的性能。大量的这些结构——从人类的头盖骨到鳄鱼的盔甲——都包含缝合线；这些是柔软的界面，将相邻的刚性板与相互交叉的突起连接起来。这些界面有可能通过改变缝合几何形状来显着调整结构的行为。因此，缝合线是具有可调机械性能的结构的仿生设计的有力候选者。这项工作的目的是通过使用有限元分析来研究缝合线的动态力学行为和结构-性能关系。重点是三种动态加载场景中的行为：捕食者攻击、运动和应力波传递。此外，这些载荷情况适用于几种缝线几何形状，以研究缝线的结构-性能关系。考虑了缝合线的超弹性和粘弹性行为。在其他见解中，我们表明缝合线可用于在小变形期间调整结构的顺应性；在较大变形期间调整互锁程度；并调整应力波传播过程中从一块板转移到另一块板的能量比例。因此，这一贡献提供了对如何使用缝合线来定制产生动态载荷的结构的机械行为的深入了解。考虑了缝合线的超弹性和粘弹性行为。在其他见解中，我们表明缝合线可用于在小变形期间调整结构的顺应性；在较大变形期间调整互锁程度；并调整应力波传播过程中从一块板转移到另一块板的能量比例。因此，这一贡献提供了对如何使用缝合线来定制产生动态载荷的结构的机械行为的深入了解。考虑了缝合线的超弹性和粘弹性行为。在其他见解中，我们表明缝合线可用于在小变形期间调整结构的顺应性；在较大变形期间调整互锁程度；并调整应力波传播过程中从一块板转移到另一块板的能量比例。因此，这一贡献提供了对如何使用缝合线来定制产生动态载荷的结构的机械行为的深入了解。并调整应力波传播过程中从一块板转移到另一块板的能量比例。因此，这一贡献提供了对如何使用缝合线来定制产生动态载荷的结构的机械行为的深入了解。并调整应力波传播过程中从一块板转移到另一块板的能量比例。因此，这一贡献提供了对如何使用缝合线来定制产生动态载荷的结构的机械行为的深入了解。