Lamella

Description

1) (biological) A thin plate or membrane found in bone, tissue or cell walls.

2) (geological) A thin sheet or scale. Some silicates, such as kaolinite, have thin, plate-like (lamellar) crystals in a layered (laminar) structure.

3) (polymer) A single unit in a crystalline polymer, usually seen as a scale or plate.

4) (construction) A supporting beam of wood or metal used to form a vault.

Synonyms and Related Terms

lamellar (adjective)

Resources and Citations

• Walter C. McCrone, John Gustave Delly, The Particle Atlas, W. McCrone Associates, Chicago, IV, 1972

• Theodore J. Reinhart, Engineered Materials Handbook, Vol. 2: Engineered Plastics, ASM International, 1988

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997