Paper MN-TuP3
The Effect of Sliding and Peeling Motion on Gecko Adhesion

Tuesday, October 16, 2007, 6:00 pm, Room 4C

The attachment pads of geckos exhibit the most versatile and effective adhesive known in nature. Their fibrillar structure is the primary source of high adhesion and their hierarchical structure produces the adhesion enhancement by giving the gecko the adaptability to create a large real area of contact with surfaces. Although geckos are capable of producing large adhesive forces, they retain the ability to remove their feet from an attachment surface at will. Detachment is achieved by a peeling motion of the geckoâ?Ts feet from a surface. Recent investigations have shown that a load applied normal to the surface was insufficient for an effective attachment of seta. The maximum adhesion force was observed by sliding the seta laterally along the surface under a preload. Therefore, in this study, for the three-level hierarchical model recently developed by the authors, the sliding motion of a gecko seta is considered to understand how the sliding contributes the adhesion and friction forces. In addition, the peeling motion of a gecko seta has also modeled. The peeling force is obtained as a function of peeling angle for the gecko setae contacting with the different random rough surface. This works are useful for understanding biological systems and for guiding of fabrication of the biomimetic attachment system.