Adhesion and Friction in Biological Systems [Paperback]

This book is a collection of experimental studies demonstrating structure-function relationships in various biological systems having particular surface specialization to increase/decrease friction and adhesion. Studies on snake skin, adhesive pads, wing-interlocking devices and sticky mouthparts of insects as well as anti-adhesive and adhesive surfaces of plants are included in the volume containing four main subsections: (1) adhesion, (2) friction, (3) attachment-devices, (4) attachment-related behavior. Numerous experimental methods for characterizing tribological properties of biological surfaces at macro-, micro-, and nanoscale levels are demonstrated. This book is an excellent collection of publications on biotribology for both engineers and physicists working with biological systems as well as for biologists studying friction and adhesion. Inspirations from biology reported here may be also potentially interesting for biomimetics.This book explores biological systems with surface specializations which increase or decrease friction and adhesion. Studies examine snake skin and adhesive pads in animals, as well as anti-adhesive and adhesive surfaces of plants, among many other examples.

Adhesion and Friction in Biological Systems.- Introduction.- I. Adhesion.- Chapter 1. ?Pollen grains adhere to the moist mouthparts in the flower visiting beetles.- Chapter 2. ?Material structure, stiffness, and adhesion: why attachment pads of the grasshopper (Tettigonia viridissima) adhere more strongly than those of the locust (Locusta migratoria) (Insecta: Orthoptera).- Chapter 3. ?Attachment force of the beetle Cryptolaemus montrouzieri (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) on leaflet surfaces of mutants of the pea Pisum sativum (Fabaceae) with regular and reduced wax coverage.- Chapter 4. Visualization of epicuticular grease on the covering wings on the Colorado Potato Beetle: A scanning probe approach.- Chapter 5. Fracture behaviour of plant epicuticular wax crystals and itsl#