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Size effect in nanoadhesion of fibrillar structure

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Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

The gecko has incredible climbing ability for its nanoscale hierarchical fibrillar structure foot-hair. Can we fabricate a new type of adhesive by mimicking the gecko mechanism? In this paper, we consider a simplified case of an elastic cylinder with hemispherical shape terminals adhering to a rigid substrate. By using the classical JKR model to calculate the adhesive strength, we find that the strong size effect arises when the cylinder’s radius is in nanoscale. This finding may help us to design a biomemetic adhesive.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China

    Wang ShiJi

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  1. Wang ShiJi
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Wang, S. Size effect in nanoadhesion of fibrillar structure. CHINESE SCI BULL 52, 592–595 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-007-0099-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-007-0099-y

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