Fabrication and Characterization of Biologically Inspired Mushroom-Shaped Elastomer Microfiber Arrays

This paper reports enhanced adhesion and friction of biologically inspired mushroom-shaped elastomer microfibers which are fabricated using micromolding and the notching effect during deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). The fabrication approach of this work allows mushroom-shaped small diameter fibers down to 100s of nanometer scale (using interference lithography) with high uniformity, and high yield in large area. The fabricated microfiber arrays demonstrate approximately up to 17 time higher adhesion and around twice higher static friction than the nonfibrillar flat elastomer surface on a 6 mm diameter glass hemisphere. Moreover, adhesion experiments with the microfiber arrays which have different thickness backing layers reveal the significance of the backing layer thickness on adhesion of the fiber arrays on smooth contact surfaces.