Journal of Space Science and Experiment >
Optimization Design of Bioinspired Dry Adhesive Microstructures for Space Applications
Online published: 2026-05-28
With the rapid development of China’ s space technology, emerging tasks such as on-orbit assembly, extravehicular inspection, and space equipment manufacturing have imposed increasingly stringent requirements on novel connection and reversible attachment technologies under extreme environments. For complex operating conditions involving low temperature, vacuum, and microgravity, existing adhesion strategies, including magnetic adhesion, vacuum suction, and electrostatic adhesion, still suffer from limitations in applicable surfaces, energy consumption, structural lightweighting, and environmental adaptability. Among them, bioinspired dry adhesion has been regarded as a promising solution for miniature space attachment systems because it requires no continuous energy input, leaves no residue, and offers low mass and strong surface adaptability. However, classical contact mechanics models cannot adequately describe the adhesive behavior of non-spherical microstructures coupled with large deformation of soft materials. As a result, a unified physical framework for comparing dry adhesive microstructures with different materials, dimensions, and geometries is still lacking, which restricts the theoretical design and performance evaluation of high-performance bioinspired dry adhesives. To address this issue, this study proposes a flexible adhesion theory for bioinspired dry adhesive microstructures. Two key physical descriptors, namely the flexible figure of merit and the equivalent adhesion radius, are introduced to characterize the coupled effects of material compliance, structural scale, and interfacial adhesion capability, and to reveal the power-law scaling relationship governing adhesion strength with respect to geometric and material parameters. By moving beyond the dependence of conventional models on idealized contact forms, the proposed framework establishes a unified evaluation methodology for complex flexible microstructured adhesive systems. It provides a theoretical basis for performance analysis, cross-system comparison, and rational design of new dry adhesive materials, and offers a new analytical framework for the development of efficient and controllable microscale adhesion technologies in extreme environments.
Wenwu ZHU , Jiliang MA , Yusen MA , Bingshu ZENG , Kanglong YUAN , Meng LI , Jun PENG . Optimization Design of Bioinspired Dry Adhesive Microstructures for Space Applications[J]. Journal of Space Science and Experiment, 2026 , 3(2) : 95 -103 . DOI: 10.19963/j.cnki.2097-4302.2026.02.010
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