Determination of the Young's modulus of the epicuticle of the smooth adhesive organs of Carausius morosus using tensile testing.

ABSTRACT: Adhesive organs like arolia of insects allow these animals to climb on different substrates by creating high adhesion forces. According to the Dahlquist criterion, adhesive organs must be very soft, exhibiting an effective Young's modulus of below 100 kPa to adhere well to substrates. Such a low effective Young's modulus allows the adhesive organs to make almost direct contact with the substrate and results in van der Waals forces along with capillary forces. In previous studies, the effective Young's moduli of adhesive organs were determined using indentation tests, revealing their structure to be very soft. However, adhesive organs show a layered structure, thus the measured values comprise the effective Young's moduli of several layers of the adhesive organs. In this study, a new approa

SUBMITTER: Bennemann M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4198382 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature