Collaborative Research: Exploiting Tunable Stiffness for Dynamic Adhesion Control at the Macro- and Micro-Scale

具有动态可切换附着力的表面在机器人和制造业等领域有着广泛的应用。例如，具有可切换附着力的表面使新型抓取表面用于攀爬和栖息机器人。该奖项支持研究实现基于复合材料使用的可切换粘合剂表面的新概念，其中材料的一个组件的刚度可以通过应用电信号来改变。通过调节复合材料的一个组成部分的刚度，改变了力在界面上的分布方式，从而改变了界面的有效粘附强度。通过建模和实验建立这些材料的潜在粘附力学，从而实现具有动态可切换粘附的复合材料结构的优化设计。该项目是内华达大学里诺分校和宾夕法尼亚大学研究人员之间的合作项目，将培养学生在先进材料、机械、制造和软机器人方面的技能，从而为美国工程人才的发展做出贡献。该研究将通过一个研究计划，包括设计、制造、并对两类具有高干粘接强度的弹性体基复合材料进行了表征。基于有限元的多物理场模型将用于研究复合材料的结构和刚度非均质性对有效粘接强度的影响。利用微加工技术和软机器人和电子领域的最新制造进展，将开发可扩展的路线来实现由这些复合材料制成的平面和纤维状表面。表征工作将集中于建立：(1)组成材料的机械和粘附特性，以便为建模和仿真工作提供信息；(2)所制造的新型复合材料系统的粘附特性和性能。这项研究将导致对力学和制造具有可调附着力的复合材料系统的基本理解的提高。

Surfaces with dynamically switchable adhesion have a wide range of applications in fields such as robotics and manufacturing. For example, surfaces with switchable adhesion enable new types of gripping surfaces for use in climbing and perching robots. This award supports research to realize a new concept in switchable adhesive surfaces based on the use of composite materials where the stiffness of one component of the material can be changed via the application of an electrical signal. By modulating the stiffness of one component of the composite, the manner in which force is distributed to the interface is altered, and as a result, the effective adhesion strength of the interface is changed. The underlying adhesion mechanics of these materials will be established through modeling and experiments, thus enabling the optimized design of composite structures with dynamically switchable adhesion. This project is a collaboration between researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of Pennsylvania and will result in the training of students in advanced materials, mechanics, manufacturing, and soft robotics, thus contributing to the development of the engineering workforce in the U.S.The research will realize new composite materials with dynamically tunable adhesion through a research plan that includes the design, fabrication, and characterization of two classes of elastomer-based composite materials with high dry adhesion strength. Finite element-based multiphysics models will be used to investigate the how the structure of the composite and the stiffness heterogeneity contribute to the effective adhesion strength. Scalable routes to realize flat and fibrillar surfaces made of these composite materials will be developed by leveraging microfabrication techniques and recent manufacturing advances from the field of soft robotics and electronics. Characterization efforts will focus on establishing: (1) the mechanical and adhesion properties of the constituent materials in order to inform the modeling and simulation effort, and (2) the adhesion properties and performance of the novel composite material systems that are fabricated. This research will lead to an improved fundamental understanding of the mechanics and manufacturing of composite material systems with tunable adhesion.