This book discusses effective natural solutions to bimaterial attachment, including in-depth analysis of the biology of attachments in the body, a review of bioengineering approaches and a description of current ways of joining dissimilar materials in surgery.

Provides the first comprehensive treatment of physiologic attachment from the engineering perspective

Part I: Attachment of Dissimilar Materials: Challenges and Solutions.- The Challenge of Attaching Dissimilar Materials.- Functionally Graded Materials in Engineering.- Singularities at the Attachment of Dissimilar Materials.- Part II: Natural Examples of Transitions from Stiff to Compliant Materials.- Ligament and Tendon Enthesis: Anatomy and Mechanics.- The Bone-Cartilage Interface.- Muscle-Tendon Interactions in The Absence of Bones: Lessons from the Fruit Fly, Drosophilf.- Dentin/Adhesive Interfaces in Teeth.- Specific Adhesion of Soft Elastic Materials.- Diversified Material Designs in The Biological Underwater Adhesives.- Mechanics of Self-Similar Hierarchical Adhesive Structures Inspired by Gecko.- Part III: Regeneration of Interfaces - Development, Healing, and Tissue Engineering.- Mechanobiology at The Attachment of Tendon to Bone.- Soft Tissue to Bone Healing in Rotator Cuff Repair.- Soft Tissue to Bone Healing in Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.- Engineering Graded Tissue Interfaces.- Engineering Fibrous Tissues and their Interface with Bone.- Synthesis of Layered, Graded Bioscaffolds.

Attachment of dissimilar materials in engineering and surgical practice is a perennial challenge. Bimaterial attachment sites are common locations for injury, repeated injury, and mechanical failure. Nature presents several highly effective solutions to the challenge of bimaterial attachment that differ from those found in engineering practice. Structural Interfaces and Attachments in Biology describes the attachment of dissimilar materials from multiple perspectives. The text will simultaneously elucidate natural bimaterial attachments and outline engineering principles underlying successful attachments to the communities of tissue engineers and surgeons. Included an in-depth analysis of the biology of attachments in the body and mechanisms by which robust attachments are formed, a review of current concepts of attaching dissimilar materials in surgical practice and a discussion of bioengineering approaches that are currently being developed.