11/4/2016
Arzt stands with co-host Professor Petros Sofronis, Department Head Tony Jacobi, co-host Professor Taher Saif, and Shirley A. Soo and Dr. David D. Soo, children of Shao Lee and Hermia Soo. Prof. Dr.
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Arzt stands with co-host Professor Petros Sofronis, Department Head Tony Jacobi, co-host Professor Taher Saif, and Shirley A. Soo and Dr. David D. Soo, children of Shao Lee and Hermia Soo.
Arzt’s talk, “Bioinspired Patterned Surfaces: Simulation-Guided Development of New Functionalities,” focused particularly on the research being done to develop materials surface characteristics like those of the gecko’s feet.
“At INM, we develop and investigate new micro- and nano-patterned surfaces for diverse functionalities ranging from anti-reflection to electric storage. We have also recently pioneered the understanding and exploitation of bio-inspired polymeric ("fibrillar") features to create mechanically active surfaces (“gecko effect”). We elucidate, both experimentally and theoretically, the adhesion enhancement by micro-patterning of polymeric surfaces and develop an understanding of the effects of feature size, aspect ratio, and shape. The adhesion based on van der Waals interactions is reversible, residue-free, works in vacuum and can be switched between an adhesive and a non-adhesive state. Recently, our focus has been on new designs inspired by simulations of the interfacial stress distributions and the resulting pull-off stresses,” Arzt said.
A highly cited materials scientist, Arzt has been Scientific Director of INM, one of the leading German institutes of materials research, since 2007. He earned his PhD in physics in 1980 from the University of Vienna, Austria. He was Director of the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research (now Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems), and Professor of Metals Physics at University of Stuttgart from 1990-2007.
The annual Soo lecture was established in 1992 by Professor Shao Lee Soo and his wife, Hermia. Professor and Mrs. Soo wanted to perpetuate the memory of his mother, Yunchuan Aisinjioro-Soo (1899-1991). Born Princess Shansji of Aisinjioro, the last Royal House of China, she took the pen name Yunchuan and became an accomplished poet and artist. Throughout the turmoil of revolution and war, she steadfastly believed that the way for the family to serve the people is through the education of its children.
Two of the three Soo children attended Thursday’s lecture.