Giant Clam
:
Toughening Mechanisms
•
Cracks easily travel along continuous crystals.
•
•
Frequent periodic interruptions in growth lead to
growth bands
•
•
growth bands present little evidence of crack deflection
Continuous
CaCO
3
Crystals
Growth planes
•
Growth plane separation is
approximately 5
µm thick
•
•
Cracks travel along crystal
interface.