ABSTRACT
Christine Ortiz and coworkers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology performed an in-depth nanoindentation study on scales of Polypterus senegalus [2]. They found that both hardness and Young’s modulus were increasing from the bony side to the ganoine side. Ikoma et al. [3] reported the tensile strength and failure mechanism under strain for the fish scales of Pagrus major. However, in-depth nanomechanical properties of fish scales at the microstructural length are yet to be explored to a significant detail, particularly those from the Asian countries, e.g., India. Keeping in mind their unique properties like low density, high fracture toughness, and functionally graded structure, it is important to understand the mechanical behavior of such fish scales thoroughly. Therefore, in this chapter, we are concentrating on an Indian freshwater fish (Cyprinidae family) scale, which is a cycloid type. The microstructural and dielectric properties of such a cycloid type fish scale of Catla catla have already been investigated elsewhere [4]. In this chapter, we shall be emphasizing the nanoindentation study and how it correlates with the microstructural aspects.
