Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

Title

Dry Adhesion Based on Electrospun Polymer Fibers

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

11-2010

Abstract

Dry Adhesion exists between polymer nano/microfibers. An elaborate experiment was performed to directly measure the adhesion between electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) microfibers using a nano force tensile tester. Electrospun nano/microfibers with radius ranging from 0.2 to 1.1 μm were investigated. It was found that the adhesion force depended on the fiber radius following a linear relationship, which complied with the classical Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) contact mechanics model. The force increased with temperature and decreased with relative humidity between two fibers positioned in orthogonal directions. Our data suggested the van der Waals’ (vdW) interactions are primarily operative between the micro-/nano-fibers.

Publication Title

ASME 2010 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition

Volume

12

First Page

163

Last Page

167

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