Achieving adhesion between soft materials in a wet environment is a difficult task. The physics behind the bonding and debonding of two soft materials submerged in liquid is not fully understood because we lack tools that can measure adhesion forces to sufficient resolution. Here I will develop a force microscope to measure and image micro-nanoscale adhesion dynamics between soft materials submerged in Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids. I will measure and model interaction forces influenced by instabilities and deformations at interfaces and hydrodynamics. This novel approach will fill major gaps in our understanding of the physics of soft adhesion, offer valuable insights for industrial adhesive development and provide data for theorists and engineers working on biomimicry designs for applications in biomedicine, marine contexts, soft robotics, and wearable devices. The site of research is Aalto University.

2024

2028