Abstract
This chapter deals with functional grading in biological materials. Materials within the current technological landscape have to meet the pressing demand for energy efficiency and targeted functionality. Thus, the majority of materials in current, and future, applications have to meet the demanding condition of having unprecedented combinations of mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties. Some of these properties may be adverse in nature (e.g. strength-toughness, ductility, etc.). The adverse nature of the desired properties in future materials presents engineers and material scientists with many challenging problems. These problems may be thematically described within the general context of “coordination of competing heterogeneity”. On the other hand, many biological systems have mechanical properties that are far beyond those that can be achieved using synthetic materials due to targeted functional grading at different length scales. As such, they represent potential methodological paradigms capable of providing meaningful guidelines for customized manmade materials.