Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Fiber structure helps sucker fish "hitchhike" to survive
The researchers demonstrated that the new suction cup can hold various objects.
Photo source: substance
News from our newspaper (reporter Tang Feng
）Recently, researchers from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics found that the strong adsorption capacity of the fish comes from the special structure inside the suction cup lip. Related papers have been published recently in matter.
Wen Li, a professor at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and co-author of the paper, mentioned that the shape and swimming ability of the fish itself are not enough to make it have a survival advantage in nature, so it evolved its first dorsal fin of its head into a suction cup, so that it can carry other sea creatures' hitchhikes, so as to achieve predation and reproduction.
In order to explore the mystery of free riding, researchers studied the soft lip ring of suction cup. They found that the lip ring had a unique structure between the upper and lower epidermis: vertical collagen fibers. The elasticity provided by the fibrous structure can maximize the contact area between the suction cup and the object, and reduce the deformation of the lip ring to maintain its adhesion. This is also the first time that the academic community has revealed the structure of the labial circle in detail.
Inspired by the fish, researchers designed a bionic suction cup with vertical nylon fiber by electrostatic flocking, which uses electric charge to arrange the fibers. Compared with the pure silica gel suction cup, the adsorption force of the bionic suction cup is increased by 62.5%, and the adsorption time is increased by 3.4 times. In addition, the fiber-reinforced bionic suction cup can hang objects with large weight, irregular shape and different surface roughness.
Next, the researchers will study and imitate the structure of the upper and lower epidermis to improve the current bionic suction cup. Introduce environmentally friendly and biodegradable materials such as silk instead of nylon. The development of vertical fiber structure can also be applied to software robots to achieve precise and complex motion by controlling the degree of deformation.
Related paper information: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.2020.01.018
China Science Daily (2020-03-02, 4th Edition, comprehensive)