Nonliving dehydrated leaves-inspired surface anti-wrinkling

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Bionics
• Surface Engineering

Background:

• Living organisms naturally possess sophisticated surface anti-wrinkling mechanisms.
• Replicating these anti-wrinkling properties in nonliving artificial surfaces is challenging due to complexities in self-regulation and structural adaptation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an on-demand, customizable, and material-invariant strategy for surface anti-wrinkling in nonliving materials.
• To mimic the anti-wrinkling principles observed in dehydrated leaves for artificial surface applications.

Main Methods:

• A novel strategy employing leaf vein-imitated boundary curvature-coupled constraints for surface anti-wrinkling.
• Customization of anti-wrinkling width and concave radius using a dimensionless dual-correction stiffness model.
• Parametric design based on anti-wrinkling demands and cross-section properties.

Main Results:

• The proposed strategy enables exact surface customization with enhanced anti-wrinkling capabilities.
• The design criteria proved effective across various scales and materials, validated by experiments.
• The method maintains the original cross-section materials of the surfaces.

Conclusions:

• The developed parametric surface anti-wrinkling strategy is effective for diverse wrinkle-prone surfaces at multiple scales.
• This approach offers a viable method for informing real-world engineering designs of artificial surfaces.
• The bio-inspired technique provides a robust solution for artificial surface anti-wrinkling challenges.