Elastic Reinforced “Dry” Adhesive Materials with Unshaped Surfaces

Solid elastic reinforced sparsely cross-linked polymers in rubberlike state have been studied. These materials are alternatives to fibrillar “dry” adhesives. The polymers based on sparsely cross-linked elastic polyester urethanes allow one to vary the composition of material, molecular and supramolecular structures, phase morphology, and strain–strength characteristics with a clear “dry” adhesion effect in a broad range. It has been stated that theoretical models developed for the calculation and prediction of adhesion characteristics of such materials should consider a clear viscoelasticity of elastic sparsely cross-linked polymers and should be based on contemporary approaches of failure mechanics, in particular, models of cohesion zones.