KEYWORDS

Applied Tribology, Biotribology, Friction, Adhesion, Stiction, Materials, Polymers (Solid)

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH OF ADHESIVE AND FRICTIONAL PROPERTIES

Inspired by the miraculous gecko adhesion, researchers have developed various synthetic fibrillar adhesive surfaces to mimic this incredible ability. In this work, we have designed and fabricated two types of mushroom-shaped inclined fibrillar gecko-inspired surfaces and the adhesive and frictional performances of these surfaces were also characterized systematically. The results indicate that adhesion of the gecko-inspired surfaces could be flexibly controlled by changing load, contact time, retracting velocity, sliding direction, sliding distance, which makes easy detachment possible. These results could benefit application of gecko-inspired surfaces in climbing robots, transferring fragile objects.

AUTHORS

Dashuai Tao, Yonggang Meng, Xiangjun Zhang, Yu Tian, State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, Jinyou Shao and Yue Wang, State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi`An Jiaotong University, Xi`An, China