Elephant ivory: A low thermal conductivity, high strength nanocomposite

There has been much recent interest in heat transport in nanostructures, and alsoin the structure, properties, and growth of biological materials. Here we present measurements of thermal properties of a nanostructured biomineral, ivory. The room-temperature thermal conductivity of ivory is anomalously low in comparison with its constituent components. Low-temperature (2–300 K) measurements ofthermal conductivity and heat capacity reveal a glass-like temperature dependenceof the thermal conductivity and phonon mean free path, consistent with increased phonon-boundary scattering associated with nanostructure. These results suggest that biomineral-like nanocomposite structures could be useful in the design of novel high-strength materials for low thermal conductivity applications.