Recent advances in mechanical characterisation of biofilm and their significance for material modelling

Abstract

In recent years, the advances in microbiology show that biofilms are structurally complex, dynamic and adaptable systems including attributes of multicellular organisms and miscellaneous ecosystems. One may distinguish between beneficial and harmful biofilms appearing in daily life as well as various industrial processes. In order to advance the growth of the former or prevent the latter type of biofilm, a detailed understanding of its properties is indispensable. Besides microbiological aspects, this concerns the determination of mechanical characteristics, which provides the basis for material modelling. In the present paper the existing experimental methods that have been proposed since the 1980s are reviewed and critically discussed with respect to their usefulness and applicability to develop numerical modelling approaches.

Keywords::

• Biofilm
• materials characterisation
• continuum mechanics
• experiments
• material parameters

Acknowledgements

Partial support for this research was provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Grant BO 3091/6-1, KR 1897/3-1, and the Max-Buchner Research Foundation (Grant No. 2925). The first two authors thank S. Kohn and M. Nowok for their technical support while preparing this manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.