A systematic investigation into the effect of fibrillar microstructures on the settlement and attachment strength of the
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T.C. BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMIMETIC MATERIALS
A systematic investigation into the effect of fibrillar microstructures on the settlement and attachment strength of the bay barnacle Balanus improvisus under natural conditions Dennis S. Petersen1 · Marika Schultz1 · Stanislav N. Gorb1 · Lars Heepe1 Received: 19 May 2020 / Accepted: 31 July 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Barnacles are one of the most prominent hardfouling organisms in the marine environment. They are able to adhere efficiently to nearly every surface underwater including artificial ones like ship hulls and maritime installations. This overgrowing can lead to huge economical costs. Previous studies have shown that specific microstructure types including micropillars can reduce the initial settlement of barnacles. However, it is not clear how adult barnacles are influenced by microstructured surfaces and whether microstructures can even decrease the resulting adhesion strength of them under natural conditions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to systematically investigate the influence of height, diameter, aspect ratio and flexibility of fibrillar microstructures made from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on initial settlement of barnacles as well as the permanent attachment of adult ones. Micropillars with three different heights (50 µm, 100 µm, 200 µm) and two different diameters (25 µm, 50 µm) were exposed to the Baltic Sea for 12 weeks. On a weekly basis, all barnacles (Balanus [= Amphibalanus] improvisus) were tracked individually to calculate the release-to-settlement ratio and to capture the average attachment duration prior to detachment. The results have shown that with increasing height, both initial settlement and fouling density development were reduced. An increase of diameter showed a similar relationship but at a much smaller scale. All tested microstructures decreased the detachment rates of barnacles from the surface compared to a flat PDMS control. However, they appear to complicate the development of a strong adhesive joint in the young adult phase. Some grade of flexibility in the microstructures appeared to increase the fouling retention. The results shed light in the interaction between adult barnacle adhesion and microstructures and may help in the development of new antifouling technologies. Keywords Adhesion · Microstructure · Barnacle · Marine bioadhesives · Biofouling
1 Introduction Water is an excellent solvent for many inorganic and highly nutritious organic matters. The permanent presence of food in the water column is the reason why many heterotrophic organisms can live sessile by feeding on filtration [50]. Therefore, diverse communities have developed on surfaces Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-020-03870-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Dennis S. Petersen [email protected]‑kiel.de 1
Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics Zoological Institute, Kiel University, Am Botanischen Garte
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