Walk like a … gecko?

Animal footpads inspire a polymer that sticks to ice

05-Feb-2025 - A solution to injuries from slips and falls may be found underfoot — literally. The footpads of geckos have hydrophilic (water-loving) mechanisms that allow the little animalsto easily move over moist, slick surfaces. Researchers in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces report using silicone rubber ...

How surface roughness influences the adhesion of soft materials

Research team discovers universal mechanism that leads to adhesion hysteresis in soft materials

12-Mar-2024 - Adhesive tape or sticky notes are easy to attach to a surface, but are difficult to remove. This phenomenon, known as adhesion hysteresis, can be fundamentally observed in soft, elastic materials: Adhesive contact is formed more easily than it is broken. Researchers at the University of Freiburg, ...

Inspired by the gecko: Better adhesion properties of plastics through combined micro- and nanostructures

Structured surface improves adhesion, wettability, optical reflection, hydrophobicity and recyclability.

27-Feb-2024 - With a patented process for micro-nano-structuring, the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS in Halle (Saale) has achieved significant improvements in the adhesion properties of polymers. The process, in which structured surfaces are produced by hot imprinting or ...

Replacement of Toxic Chemicals in the Manufacture of Tires and Conveyor Belts

The new adhesion promoters are based on natural raw materials

12-Apr-2022 - The quality of composite systems made of cords of high-strength fibers such as polyester, aramid or polyamide and matrix materials of rubber is largely determined by the adhesion properties of the fibers to the matrix. In the established manufacturing process, adhesion promoters made of ...

Pea protein, Nanogels and Particle adhesion on surfaces

3 young trend-setters nominated for LUM science award YSA 2019

19-Feb-2019 - From 22-23 May 2019 LUM GmbH hosts the 9th International Conference Dispersion Analysis & Materials Testing in Berlin, Germany. Since 2014 the Young Scientist Award (YSA) recognizes outstanding scientific work by young researchers in the areas of particle and dispersion characterization and ...

New approach to measuring stickiness could aid micro-device design

09-Mar-2018 - Brown University engineers have devised a new method of measuring the stickiness of micro-scale surfaces. The technique could be useful in designing and building micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), devices with microscopic moving parts. At the scale of bridges or buildings, the most ...

3-D printing improves cell adhesion and strength of PDMS polymer

25-Jan-2018 - Combining two different polymer forms can switch manufacturing of silicone parts from molding, casting and spin coating of simple forms to 3-D printing of complex geometries with better mechanical characteristics and better biological adhesion, according to a team of Penn State researchers. "So ...

New insights into underwater adhesives

18-Jan-2018 - A Korean research team, affiliated with UNIST has presented a new type of underwater adhesives that are tougher than the natural biological glues that mussels normally use to adhere to rocks, ships, and larger sea critters. This has attracted much attention as a technology that surpass the limits ...

Scaling to new heights with gecko-inspired adhesive

12-Jan-2018 - Some animals, such as geckos, can easily climb up walls and across ceilings. But currently, no material exists that allows everyday people to scale walls or transverse ceilings as effortlessly. Now, scientists report a dry adhesive that could someday make it easier to defy gravity. Geckos can ...

New microscope sets a record for visualizing surface wetting properties

29-Nov-2017 - Wetting is an everyday phenomenon that represents how well liquid spreads on a surface. When water comes into contact with an extremely water-repellent, or 'superhydrophobic' surface, droplets bead up and roll off easily. Aalto University researchers have developed a measurement technique called ...