Applied Mechanics Commons^™

Scaling Reversible Adhesion In Synthetic And Biological Systems, Michael David Bartlett

Open Access Dissertations

Geckos and other insects have fascinated scientists and casual observers with their ability to effortlessly climb up walls and across ceilings. This capability has inspired high capacity, easy release synthetic adhesives, which have focused on mimicking the fibrillar features found on the foot pads of these climbing organisms. However, without a fundamental framework that connects biological and synthetic adhesives from nanoscopic to macroscopic features, synthetic mimics have failed to perform favorably at large contact areas. In this thesis, we present a scaling approach which leads to an understanding of reversible adhesion in both synthetic and biological systems over multiple length …