Alexander Kovalev, Alexander Filippov, Stanislav N. Gorb
Slow viscous responses with 1.7 and 16 s characteristic times were observed during microindentation of resilin from the wing hinge of Locusta migratoria: about a quarter of the mechanical response was assigned to a viscous component. Mechanical properties of resilin, which is highly important in invertebrate biomechanics, were characterized using a generalized Maxwell model with two characteristic time constants, poroelasticity theory, and alternatively using a 1D model with just one characteristic time constant. These results demonstrate that the locust flight system is adapted to both fast and slow mechanical processes, which may be related to flight and wing folding functions correspondingly.
