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.