Interesting thing – evolution. Sometimes it decides for man, the most complex from an engineering point of view tasks. The only thing is to look at nature, plants, animals and their amazing features. Take octopus. These cephalopods interesting to scientists in many ways. For example, in the image and likeness of researchers from Harvard are trying to create soft robots, and the staff at South Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University have created an amazing tape with suckers resembling those that are located on the tentacles of an octopus.
The Koreans tried to solve the problem with the creation of suction cups, providing a high bond strength even under water and in containers. One of fauna, they should seek help, if not octopus? Because his tentacles are literally covered with hundreds of suction cups of different sizes.
“We have long puzzled over the secret of how octopuses are held on the underwater surfaces, therefore, began with curiosity watching them in the wild, told reporters assistant Professor Changhong pang from the University of Sungkyunkwan, now we can safely say that the secret”.
The suction Cup of the clam are arranged in a highly original way. They are hollow “glasses” with a ball inside. When the suction Cup is in contact with the surface and it is applied pressure, the ball is deformed, taking the liquid in the upper part. In the lower part this forms a vacuum cavity that holds the suction Cup on the surface. Scientists have tried to recreate the artificial suction cups in the laboratory and made on the basis of their brand new sticky metamaterial. It turned out that the optimal diameter of the cups is a tiny size of 50 micrometers.
The resulting material in the form of a film is well-behaved under water and in oily environments. Of course, the adhesive force of this film isn’t an ordinary adhesive tape in dry conditions, but scientists believe that in the future the material will be significantly improved through additional research and experimentation. Some issues remained. For example, how to get the tape unstuck from the surface. Because the octopus controls the suction power of her muscles, and artificial suction cups are no muscles there. In the future, these materials can enter into our everyday life. Imagine a patch that can stick even to damp skin or immediately seal anything under water. Korean researchers plan to monetize his invention over the next three years.
Octopus-inspired scientists to create an underwater adhesive tape
Sergey Grey