(678d) Design and Fabrication of Gecko-Inspired Adhesives

The Fabrication of
Dry Adhesives mimicking the Gecko Adhesive System

In
this study, we fabricate dry adhesives mimicking the gecko fibrillar
adhesive system using conventional as well as unconventional techniques. Synthetic
dry adhesives with varying tilt angles in the fibrillar
structures are fabricated and the resulting adhesion and friction forces are
measured and analyzed using a tribometer.  Comparing
to our previous work, current structure provides larger adhesion and friction
forces. Obvious anisotropic property upon shearing direction is exhibited due
to the unique design of arrays with triangle pillars each of which is
terminated by thin rectangle tips on the edge.  Long term test shows that the
adhesive allows for long lifetime and repeated use without significant
performance degradation. Adhesion measured from samples with different tilt
angles shows a good agreement with the previous reported peel zone model. Potential
applications of such a synthetic dry adhesive include reusable adhesive tapes
and sticky pads on robotic appendages.