To reduce friction drag with bionic method in a more feasible way, the surface microstructure of fish scales was analyzed attempting to reveal the biologic features responding to skin friction drag reduction. Then com...To reduce friction drag with bionic method in a more feasible way, the surface microstructure of fish scales was analyzed attempting to reveal the biologic features responding to skin friction drag reduction. Then comparable bionic surface mimicking fish scales was fabricated through coating technology for drag reduction. The paint mixture was coated on a substrate through a self-developed spray-painting apparatus. The bionic surface with micron-scale caves formed spontaneously due to the interra- cial convection and deformation driven by interfacial tension gradient in the presence of solvent evaporation. Comparative experiments between bionic surface and smooth surface were performed in a water tunnel to evaluate the effect of bionic surface on drag reduction, and visible drag reduction efficiency was obtained. Numerical simulation results show that gas phase de- velops in solid-liquid interface of bionic surface with the effect of surface topography and partially replaces the solid-liquid shear force with gas-liquid shear force, hence reducing the skin friction drag effectively. Therefore, with remarkable drag re- duction performance and simple fabrication technology, the proposed drag reduction technique shows the promise for practical applications.展开更多
An advanced electro-active dry adhesive, which was composed of a mushroom-shaped tibrillar dry adhesive array actuated by an Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) artificial muscle reinforced with nitrogen-doped carb...An advanced electro-active dry adhesive, which was composed of a mushroom-shaped tibrillar dry adhesive array actuated by an Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) artificial muscle reinforced with nitrogen-doped carbon nanocages (NCNCs), was developed to imitate the actuation of a gecko's toe. The properties of the NCNC-reinforced Nation membrane, the electro- mechanical properties of the NCNC-reinforced IPMC, and the related electro-active adhesion ability were investigated. The NCNCs were uniformly dispersed in the 0.1 wt% NCNC/Nafion membrane, and there was a seamless connection with no clear interface between the dry adhesive and the IPMC. Our 0.1 wt% NCNC/Nation-IPMC actuator shows a displacement and force that are 1.6 - 2 times higher than those of the recast Nafion-IPMC. This is due to the increased water uptake (25.39%) and tensile strength (24.5 MPa) of the specific 3D hollow NCNC-reinforced Nation membrane, as well as interactions between the NCNCs and the sulfonated groups of the Nation. The NCNC/Nation-IPMC was used to effectively actuate the mushroom-shaped dry adhesive. The normal adhesion forces were 7.85 raN, 12.1 mN, and 51.7 mN at sinusoidal voltages of 1.5 V, 2.5 V, and 3.5 V, respectively, at 0.1 Hz. Under the bionic leg trail, the normal and shear forces were approximately 713.5 mN (159 mN·cm^-2) and 1256.6 mN (279 mN·cm^-2), respectively, which satisfy the required adhesion. This new electro-active dry adhesive can be applied for active, distributed actuation and flexible grip in robots.展开更多
基金The National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘To reduce friction drag with bionic method in a more feasible way, the surface microstructure of fish scales was analyzed attempting to reveal the biologic features responding to skin friction drag reduction. Then comparable bionic surface mimicking fish scales was fabricated through coating technology for drag reduction. The paint mixture was coated on a substrate through a self-developed spray-painting apparatus. The bionic surface with micron-scale caves formed spontaneously due to the interra- cial convection and deformation driven by interfacial tension gradient in the presence of solvent evaporation. Comparative experiments between bionic surface and smooth surface were performed in a water tunnel to evaluate the effect of bionic surface on drag reduction, and visible drag reduction efficiency was obtained. Numerical simulation results show that gas phase de- velops in solid-liquid interface of bionic surface with the effect of surface topography and partially replaces the solid-liquid shear force with gas-liquid shear force, hence reducing the skin friction drag effectively. Therefore, with remarkable drag re- duction performance and simple fabrication technology, the proposed drag reduction technique shows the promise for practical applications.
基金This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51605220, U1637101, 51435008), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20160793), the High Level Introduction of Talent Research Start-up Fund in NUAA (Grant No. 1011-YAH16010), and Open Project Fund in Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory for Interventional Medical Devices (Grant No. jr1601). The authors would very much like to thank Professor Stanislav N. Gorb in the Department of Functional Morphology and Biome- chanics in the Zoological Institute of the University of Kiel, Germany, for his help with the mushroom-shapeddry adhesives, and also thank Dr. Yajun Xue and Miss Yan Ding for help with the SEM observations.
文摘An advanced electro-active dry adhesive, which was composed of a mushroom-shaped tibrillar dry adhesive array actuated by an Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) artificial muscle reinforced with nitrogen-doped carbon nanocages (NCNCs), was developed to imitate the actuation of a gecko's toe. The properties of the NCNC-reinforced Nation membrane, the electro- mechanical properties of the NCNC-reinforced IPMC, and the related electro-active adhesion ability were investigated. The NCNCs were uniformly dispersed in the 0.1 wt% NCNC/Nafion membrane, and there was a seamless connection with no clear interface between the dry adhesive and the IPMC. Our 0.1 wt% NCNC/Nation-IPMC actuator shows a displacement and force that are 1.6 - 2 times higher than those of the recast Nafion-IPMC. This is due to the increased water uptake (25.39%) and tensile strength (24.5 MPa) of the specific 3D hollow NCNC-reinforced Nation membrane, as well as interactions between the NCNCs and the sulfonated groups of the Nation. The NCNC/Nation-IPMC was used to effectively actuate the mushroom-shaped dry adhesive. The normal adhesion forces were 7.85 raN, 12.1 mN, and 51.7 mN at sinusoidal voltages of 1.5 V, 2.5 V, and 3.5 V, respectively, at 0.1 Hz. Under the bionic leg trail, the normal and shear forces were approximately 713.5 mN (159 mN·cm^-2) and 1256.6 mN (279 mN·cm^-2), respectively, which satisfy the required adhesion. This new electro-active dry adhesive can be applied for active, distributed actuation and flexible grip in robots.