Bartlett lab tests strong adhesive bond with a brick drop

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research 1:14 Bartlett lab tests strong adhesive bond with a brick drop

By:

Alex Parrish

12 Jun 2023 3086

Michael Bartlett's lab has created a way to dramatically enhance the adhesive strength of tapes by making cuts inspired by kirigami. In this demonstration, they drop a brick on two different boxes to test the difference in the adhesive bond.

In the lab of Michael Bartlett at Virginia Tech, researchers have taken ordinary tape and made its adhesive powers far greater. By making engineered cuts in the surface, Bartlett's team is able to make the tape 60 times stronger from one direction, but still easily removable from another. To demonstrate the strength of their new innovation, the team took two ordinary shipping boxes, sealed one with regular shipping tape, and the other with the same tape modified with their cuts. Then they dropped a brick on the box to try and break the bond. After two drops, the brick went through the top of the box with normal tape. The tape they had modified held up much longer. The team kept dropping the brick and the tape holding. One of the advantages with this approach to controlling adhesion is that we can apply it in diverse adhesive materials. We can use this in common medical adhesives, industrial adhesives, as well as adhesives that could be developed in the future in different laboratories. What's nice about this is that we can use it in different conditions because we're utilizing the power of these cuts, instead of relying upon the materials chemistry. We can do this in dry conditions, wet conditions, and in a wide range of adhesive materials.

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