Biomimetics

Adhesives - a chat with Professor Julian Vincent

I have just come from an interesting meeting with Professor Julian Vincent where we were discussing glue. Julian is a biomimetics expert and has published 300 papers on the application of biology to engineering and in particular materials problems. Adhesives play a major role in the way we live our lives today. Julian points out that nature has already created a wide range of solutions from temporary bonds such as seen on the dog burr (later developed into Velcro) and extremely strong bonds as demonstrated by the mussel and it’s attachment to rocks in a hostile environment. One of the ways in which it is possible to understand the challenges that are faced when looking at bonding problems is via the use of TRIZ. If you want to find out more you can contact Julian and the team at BioTRIZ

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