Colin Penycuick did a paper many years ago in J Exp Biol looking at the
bending of the tip of a birds feather and relating it to energy storage
at the end of the wing stroke.
But it's easy enough to set up the rachis as a cantilever beam and twang
it to get a resonant vibration. Record with high-speed video (these
days) or shine a light through a slit and have the rachis cast a shadow
onto some photographic paper (a way I did this with grass yonks ago.
Also described in the book on experimental techniques with biological
materials - IRL press. Or do it on a strip of material in a torsional
pendulum (again easy to set up) at a number of temperatures (-20 in a
freezer to + 40 under a heat lamp would be quite possible.
Ulrike Wegst wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> Are you aware of measurements of the damping performance (mechanical
> spektroscopy, loss coefficient ...) of bird´s feathers or beta-keratin?
>
> I am grateful for any references and help you might be able to provide.
>
> Looking forward to hearing from you.
>
> Kind regards,
> Ulrike Wegst
>
>
> Dr. Ulrike G.K. Wegst
> Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung
> Heisenbergstr. 3
> D-70569 Stuttgart
> Germany
> Tel: +49(0)711-689-3423
> Tel: +49(0)711-689-3412
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> e
--
Julian FV Vincent [log in to unmask]
Professor of Biomimetics office 01225 386596
Centre for Biomimetics & Natural Technologies mobile 07941 933901
Dept of Mechanical Engineering fax 01225 386928
The University
BATH BA2 7AY
http://www.bath.ac.uk/Departments/Eng/biomimetics/
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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