The oblong cuts on this sticky tape make it onerous to take away by pulling from the left finish, however simple within the different path
Alex Parrish for Virginia Tech
A option to modify sticky tape impressed by kirigami, the Japanese artwork of paper chopping, may make it 60 occasions stronger, whereas remaining simple to peel off.
There are two predominant kinds of adhesives: robust ones which might be onerous to take away, comparable to duct tape, and people that may be simply peeled off, comparable to sticky notes. What’s lacking is an adhesive that mixes the properties of the 2 – one that’s strong however simply eliminated when wanted, says Michael Bartlett at Virginia Tech.
Bartlett and his colleagues have provide you with an answer based mostly on kirigami. “Our inspiration was to make use of the geometry, or the chopping of the tape, to regulate its properties with out having to revamp the chemistry,” he says.
To create the tape, the workforce laser-cut three sides of a rectangle in a repeated sample in a strip of sticky tape, to create flaps (see picture). For those who peel it off a floor so that you encounter the uncut facet of the rectangle first, it’s simple to separate.
Nevertheless, the workforce discovered that it was a lot tougher to take away the tape if you happen to peel in the other way. As an alternative of 1 easy movement, each time you encounter a lower within the tape you’ll want to flip round and return on your self to separate it from the floor. This problem provides it its excessive power: the researchers discovered that this straightforward modification may enhance the adhesion of the tape by an element of 60. “Meaning we will basically take a chunk of fabric like a Publish-it be aware and make it as robust as duct tape,” says Bartlett.
The tape may very well be helpful in conditions the place you want a excessive adhesion drive in a selected path, comparable to hanging a photograph body. What’s extra, the workforce discovered that it may follow a variety of supplies, together with metal, glass, plastic and Teflon, and even works underwater.
Sooner or later, Bartlett says that these modified tapes may very well be used within the manufacture of robots and electronics that will profit from trouble-free disassembly.
“What’s elegant about [this] work is the shockingly easy resolution,” says Jamie Paik on the Swiss Federal Institute of Expertise in Lausanne. “In contrast to earlier approaches, this methodology doesn’t require any particular mixture of supplies, manufacturing processes or moulds.”
