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    Application of machine learning to object manipulation with bio-inspired microstructures
    (Rio de Janeiro : Elsevier, 2023) Samri, Manar; Thiemecke, Jonathan; Hensel, René; Arzt, Eduard
    Bioinspired fibrillar adhesives have been proposed for novel gripping systems with enhanced scalability and resource efficiency. Here, we propose an in-situ optical monitoring system of the contact signatures, coupled with image processing and machine learning. Visual features were extracted from the contact signature images recorded at maximum compressive preload and after lifting a glass object. The algorithm was trained to cope with several degrees of misalignment and with unbalanced weight distributions by off-center gripping. The system allowed an assessment of the picking process for objects of various mass (200, 300, and 400 g). Several classifiers showed a high accuracy of about 90 % for successful prediction of attachment, depending on the mass of the object. The results promise improved reliability of handling objects, even in difficult situations.
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    A Design Strategy for Mushroom-Shaped Microfibrils With Optimized Dry Adhesion: Experiments and Finite Element Analyses
    (New York, NY : ASME, 2021) Zhang, Xuan; Wang, Yue; Hensel, René; Arzt, Eduard
    Enhanced dry adhesion of micropatterned polymeric surfaces has been frequently demonstrated. Among the design parameters, the cap geometry plays an important role to improve their performance. In this study, we combined experiments on single polyurethane mushroom-shaped fibrils (with a stalk diameter of 80 µm and height of 125 µm) against flat glass, with numerical simulations implementing a cohesive zone. We found that the geometry of the mushroom cap strongly affects the interfacial crack behavior and the pull-off stress. The experimental and numerical results suggest that optimal adhesion was accompanied by the appearance of both edge and interior interfacial cracks during separation. Finite elemental analyses revealed the evolution of the interfacial stress distributions as a function of the cap thickness and confirmed the distinct detachment mechanisms. Furthermore, the effect of the stalk diameter and the Young's modulus on the adhesive force was established, resulting in an optimal design for mushroom-shaped fibrils.
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    Micro-mechanical response of ultrafine grain and nanocrystalline tantalum
    (Rio de Janeiro : Elsevier, 2021) Yang, Wen; Ruestes, Carlos J.; Li, Zezhou; Torrents Abad, Oscar; Langdon, Terence G.; Heiland, Birgit; Koch, Marcus; Arzt, Eduard; Meyers, Marc A.
    In order to investigate the effect of grain boundaries on the mechanical response in the micrometer and submicrometer levels, complementary experiments and molecular dynamics simulations were conducted on a model bcc metal, tantalum. Microscale pillar experiments (diameters of 1 and 2 μm) with a grain size of ~100–200 nm revealed a mechanical response characterized by a yield stress of ~1500 MPa. The hardening of the structure is reflected in the increase in the flow stress to 1700 MPa at a strain of ~0.35. Molecular dynamics simulations were conducted for nanocrystalline tantalum with grain sizes in the range of 20–50 nm and pillar diameters in the same range. The yield stress was approximately 6000 MPa for all specimens and the maximum of the stress–strain curves occurred at a strain of 0.07. Beyond that strain, the material softened because of its inability to store dislocations. The experimental results did not show a significant size dependence of yield stress on pillar diameter (equal to 1 and 2 um), which is attributed to the high ratio between pillar diameter and grain size (~10–20). This behavior is quite different from that in monocrystalline specimens where dislocation ‘starvation’ leads to a significant size dependence of strength. The ultrafine grains exhibit clear ‘pancaking’ upon being plastically deformed, with an increase in dislocation density. The plastic deformation is much more localized for the single crystals than for the nanocrystalline specimens, an observation made in both modeling and experiments. In the molecular dynamics simulations, the ratio of pillar diameter (20–50 nm) to grain size was in the range 0.2–2, and a much greater dependence of yield stress to pillar diameter was observed. A critical result from this work is the demonstration that the important parameter in establishing the overall deformation is the ratio between the grain size and pillar diameter; it governs the deformation mode, as well as surface sources and sinks, which are only important when the grain size is of the same order as the pillar diameter.