Abstract
Inspired by the dynamic wet adhesive systems in nature, various artificial adhesive surfaces have been developed but still face different challenges. Crucially, the theoretical mechanics of wet adhesives has never been sufficiently revealed. Here, we develop a novel adhesive mechanism for governing wet adhesion and investigate the biological models of honeybee arolium for reproducing the natural wet adhesive systems. Micro-nano structures of honeybee arolium and arolium-prints were observed by Cryogenic scanning electron microscopy (Cryo-SEM), and the air pockets were found in the contact interface notably. Subsequently, the adhesive models with a three-phase composite interface (including air pockets, liquid secretion, and hexagonal frames of arolium), were formed to analyze the wet adhesion of honeybee arolium. The results of theoretical calculations and experiments indicated an enhanced adhesive mechanism of the honeybee by liquid self-sucking effects and air-embolism effects. Under these effects, normal and shear adhesion can be adjusted by controlling the proportion of liquid secretion and air pockets in the contact zone. Notably, the air-embolism effects contribute to the optimal coupling of smaller normal adhesion with greater shear adhesion, which is beneficial for the high stride frequency of honeybees. These works can provide a fresh perspective on the development of bio-inspired wet adhesive surfaces.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2021YFB3400200), the Bei**g Natural Science Foundation (3212012), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52075038), the Opening Project of the Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering (Ministry of Education), Jilin University (KF20200001), and the Opening Project of State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University (SKLTKF20B06). The authors thank Donglin Li for providing the picture of a honeybee adhering to the flower petals during pollen collection.
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Lulu LIANG. He received his M.S. degree in the school of mechanical engineering from Nan**g University of Science and Technology, China. Now he is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Bei**g Institute of Technology, China. His current research interest is biological adhesive mechanism and biomimetic adhesion technology.
Jieliang ZHAO. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Tsinghua University, Bei**g China, in 2017. He worked as a postdoc at Tsinghua University, China, from 2017 to 2019. He is currently a professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Bei**g Institute of Technology, Bei**g, China. His major research areas include spacecraft dynamics, biological system and biomimetic machinery, bioinspired functional structures and surfaces.
Wenzhong WANG. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Tsinghua University, Bei**g China, in 2003. He joined the School of Mechanical Engineering at Bei**g Institute of Technology, Bei**g China, in 2006. His current position is a professor and director of the Department of Machine Design, Bei**g Institute of Technology. His research areas cover modeling of lubricated contact problem, contact model for inhomogeneous and function gradient materials, dynamics of rolling bearings, and thermal analysis.
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Liang, L., Zhao, J., Niu, Q. et al. Development of wet adhesion of honeybee arolium incorporated polygonal structure with three-phase composite interfaces. Friction 12, 215–230 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-023-0743-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-023-0743-0