Development of Bio-inspired Dry Adhesives Utilizing Precise CNC Machining

Abstract

Bioinspired dry adhesives have attracted much attention over the last decade as they offer superior adhesion properties such as superior adhesion strength, repeatable and reversible adhesion, rough surface adaptation, self-cleaning, directional adhesion and so on. However, previous manufacturing techniques of the bioinspired dry adhesives based on lithographic approaches such as photolithography or e-beam lithography require expensive, sophisticated, and non-environment friendly process and materials, which significantly limits the scalable production and commercialization of bioinspired dry adhesives. In this communication, we present a new manufacturing techniques based on automated CNC machining and replica molding, which enable simple, scalable and environment-friendly fabrication of bioinspired dry adhesives. Our suggested manufacturing process will accelerate the wide-spread use and commercialization of biomimetic smart dry adhesives.