Scalable Fabrication of Bioinspired Controllable Dry Adhesive by Roll‐to‐Roll Slitting

• Published in: Advanced engineering materials Vol. 24; no. 11
• Main Authors: Pang, Chohei, Mak, Kinwing, Tse, Yu Alexander, Yu, Hongyu, Wang, Michael Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.11.2022
• Subjects: gecko-inspired adhesives; scalable manufacturing; shear slitting; wedge structures
• ISSN: 1438-1656; 1527-2648
• DOI: 10.1002/adem.202200377

Controllable dry adhesives have attracted significant interest; however, their development and application remain limited owing to their high cost, complexity, and machine precision required for their fabrication. Herein, a scalable roll‐to‐roll technique for fabricating wedge‐shaped controllable dry adhesives for use in robotic grasping tasks is developed. Wedge‐shaped structures with various geometrical dimensions are manufactured, and the structure with optimal wedge dimension (50 μm width and 30° tip angle) demonstrates peak and stable normal adhesion values of 14 and 6.8 kPa, respectively. Moreover, parallel grippers are designed to grasp everyday objects that have flat surfaces and a variety of geometries and surface textures. This novel scalable, low‐cost, and simple method can be used to manufacture a straight and continuous wedge structure in large scale for controllable dry adhesives that can be effectively applied in robotic manipulation tasks. A scalable roll‐to‐roll technique for fabricating wedge‐shaped controllable dry adhesives is developed. Wedge‐shaped structures are manufactured with optimal dimensions that demonstrate peak and stable normal adhesion values of 14 and 6.8 kPa, respectively. This novel scalable, low‐cost, and simple method can be used to manufacture a straight and continuous wedge structure in large scale for controllable dry adhesives.