Underwater adhesion and friction is controlled by the presence of confined water. One simple approach to judge the surface affinity of water is to measure water contact angles. One then expects that surfaces with higher water contact angles will show high underwater adhesion and friction (hydrophobic attraction). In contrast, surfaces with low water contact angles are expected to show low underwater adhesion and friction due to the presence of bound water. These results have been verified using force measurements (normal and shear) and using surface sensitive spectroscopy. Even though the trends are clear for the two extreme cases (high and low water contact angles), the transition between high and low underwater adhesion/friction as a function of contact angles is not known. I will present measurements of friction, adhesion, and surface sensitive spectroscopy on gradient surfaces with water contact angles ranging from complete wetting to around 110<sup>o</sup>. The optimum surfaces for maximizing underwater friction and adhesion will be discussed. The connection between the results on model synthetic surfaces and biological adhesives will be presented.<br/>

Getting a better grip underwater

254th National Meeting (2017)

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