Rapid and continuous regulating adhesion strength by mechanical micro-vibration

Abstract

Controlled tuning of interface adhesion is crucial to a broad range of applications, such as space technology, micro-fabrication, flexible electronics, robotics, and bio-integrated devices. Here, we show a robust and predictable method to continuously regulate interface adhesion by exciting the mechanical micro-vibration in the adhesive system perpendicular to the contact plane. An analytic model reveals the underlying mechanism of adhesion hysteresis and dynamic instability. For a typical PDMS-glass adhesion system, the apparent adhesion strength can be enhanced by 77 times or weakened to 0. Notably, the resulting adhesion switching timescale is comparable to that of geckos (15 ms), and such rapid adhesion switching can be repeated for more than 2 × 10 7 vibration cycles without any noticeable degradation in the adhesion performance. Our method is independent of surface microstructures and does not require a preload, representing a simple and practical way to design and control surface adhesion in relevant applications.

Surface Adaptable and Adhesion Controllable Dry Adhesive with Shape Memory Polymer

“…[7][8][9][10][11] Notably, although the gecko lizards can stick with an adhesion strength of more than 100 kPa, they can move in speeds as high as 0.8 m s −1 through their extraordinary adhesion switching capability. [12] DOI: 10.1002/marc. 202200012 As the glass used in the semiconductor or display manufacturing process becomes wider and thinner these days, the demand for a versatile pick-and-place system to transfer the objects is greatly mounting.…”

“…[21][22][23][24] Remarkable trials using artificial dry adhesive for adhesion switching have been suggested, recently, a research group reported an interesting study of dry adhesive which is capable of extremely rapid adhesion switching by using microvibration. [12] Despite a lot of efforts, some lethal challenges that need to be overcome still exist, such as limits of the adhesion against rough surface profile, fragile repeatability, durability, and vulnerability to damages. [11,22,25] Therefore, the study for a new adhesion dry adhesive having not only good adhesion switching but also high adaptability onto the various surfaces is required.…”

Influence of Thin Film Deposition on AFM Cantilever Tips in Adhesion and Young’s Modulus of MEMS Surfaces

“…Since microstructures placed in vertical positions can adhere to the substrate and disturb the entire structure [ 6 ], many studies have been conducted to dominate the surface forces at micro- and nanoscale in recent years. Shui et al [ 7 ] proposed a method to continuously regulate adhesion forces by creating mechanical microvibrations for a typical polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) glass substrate. Their result indicated that the adhesion force could be increased or weakened 77 times using this technique.…”

Robust scalable reversible strong adhesion by gecko-inspired composite design

“…However, equal load sharing among these pillars also prevents them from being easily released. By considering the peeling deformation in gecko toe detachment, various climbing robots [36][37][38][39][40][41][42], transport grippers [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51], and other functional devices [52][53][54][55] have been designed based on external field triggered reversible adhesion, such as mechanical [36-44, 52, 53], pressure [46,47,51], magnetic [45], thermal [48,49], and light [50] stimuli. Nonetheless, despite the high adhesion strength of single adhesive microstructures, these existing controllable adhesive systems are limited to smallarea (< 5 cm 2 ) surfaces and a lightweight (< 500 g) adhesion capacity, owing to the dilemma of supporting structures simultaneously realizing stiff backing and flexible peeling, particularly in large areas, thereby blocking the broad applications of reversible strong adhesion.…”