Fabrication of Flexible Multi-Cavity Bio-Inspired Adhesive Unit Using Laminated Mold Pouring
Fabrication of Flexible Multi-Cavity Bio-Inspired Adhesive Unit Using Laminated Mold Pouring
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DOI：
10.3390/machines10030184
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发表时间：
2022-03
期刊：
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Linghao Zhang;Liuwei Wang;Zhiyuan Weng;Qingsong Yuan;Keju Ji;Zhouyi Wang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Linghao Zhang;Liuwei Wang;Zhiyuan Weng;Qingsong Yuan;Keju Ji;Zhouyi Wang
为满足工业抓取器和攀爬机器人对柔性末端执行器的要求，受动物附着机理的启发，设计了一种仿生粘附单元（Bio-AU）。由于其流体驱动的工作特性和多层次的粘接结构，其制造和成型具有挑战性，包括具有良好承压能力的复杂型腔的装配和成型、变刚度的多层次材料的力学性能等，本研究基于叠层模铸造工艺，建立了“同时成型和装配”的方法，可同时应用于复杂型腔零件的成形和装配。并对燕尾榫卯分型结构进行了分析和设计。此外，可以使用等离子体表面处理技术来改善分型面之间的附着力。通过上述方法的应用，提高了复杂柔性腔体的装配精度和承压能力，减少了成品之间的个体差异。此外，样品的最大承压值为83 kPa，是优化前的1.75倍。采用不同性能的硅橡胶基片，以较低的成本制备了不同刚度组分的粘接结构，满足了Bio-AU多层次变刚度材料的要求。在80 kPa下，优化后的模塑制品的弯曲角度约为50.9°，明显大于光固化制品的24.6°。这表明优化后的层压模铸造工艺对材料的包容性强，提高了Bio-AU的变形能力和自适应性，克服了3D打印技术在形成大型、柔性、刚度可调结构方面的缺陷。本研究实现了柔性多层胶接结构的有效制备，为仿生仿生机器人和工业胶接手爪的研制提供了技术支持，满足了仿生机器人和工业胶接手爪对末端执行器的需求。
To meet the requirements for the flexible end-effectors of industrial grippers and climbing robots, inspired by the animal attachment mechanism, a bio-inspired adhesive unit (Bio-AU) was designed. Due to its fluid-driven operating characteristics and multi-level adhesive structure, its fabrication and molding is challenging, including the assembly and molding of complex cavities with good pressure-bearing capability, mechanical properties of multi-level materials with variable stiffness, etc. In this study, based on the lamination mold casting process, the “simultaneous molding and assembly” method was established, which can be applied to form and assemble complex cavity parts simultaneously. Moreover, the dovetail tenon-and-mortise parting structures were analyzed and designed. Furthermore, the adhesion between the parting surfaces can be improved using plasma surface treatment technology. By applying the above methods, the assembly accuracy and pressure-bearing capability of the complex flexible cavities are improved, which reduces the individual differences between finished products. Additionally, the maximum pressure-bearing value of the sample was 83 kPa, which is 1.75 times that before optimization. the adhesive structure with different stiffness components was fabricated at low cost using silicon rubber substrates with different properties, which met the requirements of multi-level material with variable stiffness of the Bio-AU. The bending angle of the optimized molding product was about 50.9° at 80 kPa, which is significantly larger than the 24.6° of the lighting-cured product. This indicates that the optimized lamination mold casting process has a strong inclusion of materials, which improves the deformation capacity and self-adaptability of Bio-AUs and overcomes the defects of 3D printing technology in the formation of large, flexible, and controllable-stiffness structures. In this study, the effective fabrication of flexible multilayer adhesive structures was accomplished, and technical support for the development of Bio-AUs was provided, which met the requirements of bionic climbing robots and industrial adhesive grippers for end-effectors.