J4 ›› 2016, Vol. 13 ›› Issue (1): 115-123.doi: 10.1016/S1672-6529(14)60165-7

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Sticking/Climbing Ability and Morphology Studies of the Toe Pads of Chinese Fire Belly Newt

Shuai Wang, Meng Li, Wei Huang, Xiaolei Wang   

  1. College of mechanical and electrical engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,Nanjing 210016, China
  • 收稿日期:2015-06-10 修回日期:2015-12-10 出版日期:2016-01-10 发布日期:2016-01-10
  • 通讯作者: Xiaolei Wang E-mail:wxl@nuaa.edu.cn
  • 作者简介:Shuai Wang, Meng Li, Wei Huang, Xiaolei Wang

Sticking/Climbing Ability and Morphology Studies of the Toe Pads of Chinese Fire Belly Newt

Shuai Wang, Meng Li, Wei Huang, Xiaolei Wang   

  1. College of mechanical and electrical engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,Nanjing 210016, China
  • Received:2015-06-10 Revised:2015-12-10 Online:2016-01-10 Published:2016-01-10
  • Contact: Xiaolei Wang E-mail:wxl@nuaa.edu.cn
  • About author:Shuai Wang, Meng Li, Wei Huang, Xiaolei Wang

摘要:

The Chinese fire belly newts (Cynops orientalis) have the ability to escape from the glass tank with vertical walls. An experimental device was developed to investigate the sticking and climbing behaviors of the newts. The detaching angles of the newt on the surfaces of glass, PMMA, and SUS 304 stainless steel at dry, little-water, and plenty-water conditions were meas-ured and used as an index to evaluate the sticking and climbing abilities of the newts on tilted surface. The experimental results show that the newts have a strong ability to stick on tilted surface, particularly on the surface with little water. Morphological studies of the toe pads and belly were carried out by SEM and cryo-SEM to clarify the sticking mechanisms. It is found that the toe pad of the newt consists of a dense array of nanopillars with ca 100 nm – 300 nm diameter surrounded by small channels. This structure is supposed to facilitate high adhesion to substrate by providing capillary forces, and promote the squeeze-out of fluid between the toe pad and substrate in flooded case.

关键词: newt, adhesion, climb, morphology, surface texture

Abstract:

The Chinese fire belly newts (Cynops orientalis) have the ability to escape from the glass tank with vertical walls. An experimental device was developed to investigate the sticking and climbing behaviors of the newts. The detaching angles of the newt on the surfaces of glass, PMMA, and SUS 304 stainless steel at dry, little-water, and plenty-water conditions were meas-ured and used as an index to evaluate the sticking and climbing abilities of the newts on tilted surface. The experimental results show that the newts have a strong ability to stick on tilted surface, particularly on the surface with little water. Morphological studies of the toe pads and belly were carried out by SEM and cryo-SEM to clarify the sticking mechanisms. It is found that the toe pad of the newt consists of a dense array of nanopillars with ca 100 nm – 300 nm diameter surrounded by small channels. This structure is supposed to facilitate high adhesion to substrate by providing capillary forces, and promote the squeeze-out of fluid between the toe pad and substrate in flooded case.

Key words: newt, adhesion, climb, morphology, surface texture