Abstract:

Polymeric visual decoys of beetle of an invasive species called the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, are highly efficacious in luring and trapping EAB males. Although industrially scalable, the bioreplication process to fabricate these decoys involves several operational steps. In a simpler bioreplication process devised by us, a multi-cavity negative die of nickel is made from an array of several EAB females. This die is used to fabricate multiple decoys simultaneously by casting and thermal curing of poly(dimethyl siloxane). Finally, the decoys are sprayed by first a black paint and then a metallic green paint. The new bioreplication process has considerably fewer operational steps than its predecessor and can be adopted by industry.

Key words: artificial visual decoy, bioreplication, Conformal-Evaporated-Film-by-Rotation (CEFR) method, electroforming, Emerald Ash Borer, negative die