Synthetic adhesive attachment discs inspired by spider's pyriform silk architecture

ABSTRACT Spiders attach their major ampullate silk dragline fibers to surfaces using attachment discs spun from pyriform silk fibers. These attachment discs allow spiders to move safely from place to place while secured to a dragline and to attach their webs to a variety of surfaces. Here, we demonstrate a simple electrospinning process to mimic the “staple‐pin” architecture used by spiders for these attachment discs. Experimental and theoretical evidence are provided to confirm the advantages of thousands of micron‐size “staple‐pins” and their low peeling angles to enhance the adhesive forces required to peel the natural and synthetic attachment discs. These results provide a unique architectural design for fabricating new adhesives that uses very little material for various biomedical and material science applications. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym. Phys. 2014, 52, 553–560 Spiders attach their silk dragline fibers to surfaces using attachment discs spun from pyriform silk. These attachment discs are used for locomotion and to attach their webs to a variety of surfaces. Here, a simple electrospinning process is demonstrated to mimic the “staple‐pin” architecture used by spiders for these attachment discs. The results provide a unique architectural design for fabricating adhesives that uses very little material for various biomedical and material science applications.