The Young’s Modulus of Feather Keratin

The flexural stiffness of the rachis varies along the length of a primary feather, between primaries and between species; the possible contribution of variations in the longitudinal Young’s modulus of feather keratin to this was assessed. Tensile tests on compact keratin from eight species of birds belonging to different orders showed similar moduli (mean E=2.50 GPa) in all species apart from the grey heron (E=1.78 GPa). No significant...