Biologically Inspired Polymer Microfibrillar Arrays for Mask Sealing

Abstract

Previous work to develop a microfibrillar array to improve mask sealing performance demonstrated increased wet and dry adhesion on rigid and soft smooth substrates using spatulate fibers. The current effort modeled and characterized dry fibrillar adhesion to substrates that more closely approximate human skin. The models for adhesion to soft, textured substrates revealed that the resulting adhesion was simply a fraction of the adhesion to a smooth, rigid substrate. The exact fraction depends on the fiber and substrate properties. The addition of a water layer further reduced the adhesion. Friction performance was shown to directly follow adhesion performance. More research is required to optimize the adhesives to improve mask sealing. Surface coatings on the fibers are one possibility for increasing adhesion to human skin.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA498139

Entities

People

  • Burak Aksak
  • Eugene Cheung
  • Metin Sitti

Organizations

  • Carnegie Mellon University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Adhesion
  • Adhesives
  • Diameters
  • Experimental Data
  • Fabrication
  • Friction
  • Load Cells
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Modulus Of Elasticity
  • Polymers
  • Roughness
  • Simulations
  • Standards
  • Surface Finishing
  • Surface Properties
  • Surface Roughness

Readers

  • Nanofabrication and Microfabrication.
  • Polymer Science and Engineering.
  • Reinforced Composite Materials