Bio-Inspired Interlocking Structures for Enhancing Flexible Coatings Adhesion

The flexible protective coatings and substrates frequently exhibit unstable bonding in industrial applications. For strong interfacial adhesion of heterogeneous materials and long-lasting adhesion of flexible protective coatings even in harsh corrosive environments. Inspired by the interdigitated structures in Phloeodes diabolicus elytra, a straightforward magnetic molding technique is employed to create an interlocking microarray for reinforced heterogeneous assembly. Benefiting from this bio-inspired microarrays, the interlocking polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coating recorded a 270% improvement in tensile adhesion and a 520% increase in shear resistance, approaching the tensile limitation of PDMS. The elastic polyurethane-polyamide (PUPI) coating equipped with interlocking structures demonstrated a robust adhesion strength exceeding 10.8 MPa and is nearly unaffected by the corrosion immersion. In sharp contrast, its unmodified counterpart exhibited low initial adhesion and maintain approximate to 20% of its adhesion strength after 30 d of immersion. PUPI coating integrated with microarrays exhibits superior resistance to corrosion (30 d, |Z|0.01HZ approximate to 1010 omega cm2, Rct approximate to 108 omega cm2), cavitation and long-term adhesion retention. These interlocking designs can also be adapted to curved surfaces by 3D printing and enhances heterogeneous assembly of non-bonded materials like polyvinylidene fluoride (PTFE) and PDMS. This bio-inspired interlocking structures offers a solution for durably bonding incompatible interfaces across varied engineering applications. Inspired by the intricate interdigitated structures in Phloeodes diabolicus elytra, a straightforward magnetic molding technique is employed to create an interlocking microarray for enhancing interfacial adhesion between low surface energy polymeric coatings, especially elastomeric materials, and rigid substances. This innovative method holds tremendous potential for strengthening both rigid-flexible, flexible-flexible, and low surface energy interfaces, offering broad applications across multitude fields. image