title: Scaling effects of wet adhesion in biological attachment systems.
abstract: Insects have evolved fibrillar attachment devices based on wet adhesion to attach themselves to a variety of surfaces. This paper investigates the scaling effects of wet adhesion mediated by a liquid bridge between a fiber and a solid surface. The influences of liquid volume and contact angles are discussed via a scaling law indicating that the adhesive strength can be enhanced by contact size reduction. Due to the maximum negative pressure in the liquid bridge, there exists a critical length scale at which the system achieves the theoretical tensile strength of the liquid. We conclude that size reduction down to a critical scale results in optimization of the adhesive strength.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Huajian
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000268:Adhesiveness; D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008422:Materials Testing; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D014867:Water