A failure to quantitatively control adhesion can lead to failed components, suboptimal product performance and even life-threatening infections. All of which costs billions of pounds a year.
A range of nano-enabled and bio-inspired products are already available to provide practical solutions to the management of adhesion and friction in many application areas, with more products in development. However, to achieve a complete understanding of adhesion from the nanoscale to the macroscopic length scale and produce the standards required for measurement accuracy, as well as control and prediction of materials’ adhesion, we need improved measurement tools and methods.
We are one of 15 partners involved in the European project OYSTER, which aims to improve, validate and standardise adhesion measurement technologies.