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Adhesion control by inflation: implications from biology to artificial attachment device

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Abstract

There is an increasing demand for materials that incorporate advanced adhesion properties, such as an ability to adhere in a reversible and controllable manner. In biological systems, these features are known from adhesive pads of the tree frog, Litoria caerulea, and the bush-cricket, Tettigonia viridissima. These species have convergently developed soft, hemispherically shaped pads that might be able to control their adhesion through active changing the curvature of the pad. Inspired by these biological systems, an artificial model system is developed here. It consists of an inflatable membrane clamped to the metallic cylinder and filled with air. Pull-off force measurements of the membrane surface were conducted in contact with the membrane at five different radii of curvature r c with (1) a smooth polyvinylsiloxane membrane and (2) mushroom-shaped adhesive microstructured membrane made of the same polymer. The hypothesis that an increased internal pressure, acting on the membrane, reduces the radius of the membrane curvature, resulting in turn in a lower pull-off force, is verified. Such an active control of adhesion, inspired by biological models, will lead to the development of industrial pick-and-drop devices with controllable adhesive properties.

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Acknowledgments

Valuable discussions with Dr. Henrik Peisker and Dr. Alexander Kovalev on the experimental set-up and contact mechanics are acknowledged. This work was supported by the German Science Foundation (DFG, project C-10 SFB 677).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

    Kirstin Dening, Lars Heepe & Stanislav N. Gorb

  2. Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management, Polytechnic University of Bari, Bari, Italy

    Luciano Afferrante & Giuseppe Carbone

Authors
  1. Kirstin Dening
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  2. Lars Heepe
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  3. Luciano Afferrante
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  4. Giuseppe Carbone
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  5. Stanislav N. Gorb
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Correspondence to Stanislav N. Gorb.

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Dening, K., Heepe, L., Afferrante, L. et al. Adhesion control by inflation: implications from biology to artificial attachment device. Appl. Phys. A 116, 567–573 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-014-8504-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-014-8504-2

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