Project Details
Projekt
Adhesion mechanisms in micropatterned dry adhesives with hierarchical structure
Applicants
Professor Dr. Eduard Arzt; Professor Dr. Tobias Kraus
Subject Area
Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials
Term
from 2011 to 2016
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 202764224
The project aims to fabricate, test and understand the mechanics of fibrillar dry adhesive surfaces that imitate reversible attachment systems of insects and geckos. While single-level structures have been realized and studied extensively in recent years, the few attempts to create multi-level hierarchical structures have so far not led to useful adhesive properties, especially against rough surfaces. Guided by recent theoretical models and using unconventional patterning techniques, such hierarchical systems (as present in the gecko’s attachment pads) will be fabricated from polymers. Their mechanical behaviour will be investigated with micromechanical tests including in situ optical observation of the deformation on different levels and analysis of contact formation and separation. The adhesion forces vis-à-vis smooth and in particular rough surfaces will be measured and compared with theoretical adhesion models, which may have to be extended. The project will thus lay the foundations for reversible artificial adhesives for surfaces of any degree of roughness.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
Subproject of
SPP 1420:
Biomimetic Materials Research: Functionality by Hierarchical Structuring of Materials
International Connection
Australia, India, United Kingdom, USA
