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Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol.52, No.8, 553-560, 2014
Synthetic Adhesive Attachment Discs Inspired by Spider's Pyriform Silk Architecture
Spiders attach their major ampullate silk dragline fibers to surfaces using attachment discs spun from pyriform silk fibers. These attachment discs allow spiders to move safely from place to place while secured to a dragline and to attach their webs to a variety of surfaces. Here, we demonstrate a simple electrospinning process to mimic the staple-pin architecture used by spiders for these attachment discs. Experimental and theoretical evidence are provided to confirm the advantages of thousands of micron-size staple-pins and their low peeling angles to enhance the adhesive forces required to peel the natural and synthetic attachment discs. These results provide a unique architectural design for fabricating new adhesives that uses very little material for various biomedical and material science applications. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym. Phys. 2014, 52, 553-560