Knots smaller than human hair make materials unusually tough
Knotted and woven fiber topologies in hierarchical intertwined materials. (A) Computer-aided design (CAD) rendering of a hierarchical octahedron lattice where each unit cell is composed of three rhombuses. The rhombus in the rectangular box is formed by two knotted fibers, one being highlighted in purple and tessellated vertically. (B) SEM images with color shading overlaid onto a single fiber in the knotted (left) and woven (right) hierarchical rhombuses, each with two vertically connected fibers. An overhand knot is…
