Abstract
Tribological properties of femoro-tibial leg joints in two beetles, darkling beetle Zophobas morio and Congo rose chafer Pachnoda marginata were studied. Very low friction of 0.004 was revealed by the direct measurements in the joint. It is assumed that semi-solid lubricant functioning as in technical bearings is one of the leading factors of the friction minimization. Dependence of the surface texture and physical chemical properties (hydrophobicity) on the cuticle friction was analysed. Contribution of the surface texture to the tribological properties of contacting surfaces was examined by the measurement in the tribosystem “contacting surface/glass”. It is supposed that coefficient of friction (COF) decreases with decrease of surface roughness. At the same time, no statistically significant correlation was found between the hydrophobicity of the surface and the value of the friction coefficient.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the grants for Konstantin NADEIN from the German Research Foundation (DFG project “Functional design of beetle leg joints: morphology, tribology, and cuticular microstructure”, NA 126472-1 and DFG project “Arthropod leg joints as biological devices: design, mechanical properties and anti-friction mechanisms”, NA 1264/3-1). Stanislav N. GORB acknowledges the project support from the German Research Foundation (DFG GO 995/34-1 within the framework of the DFG SPP 2100 “Soft Material Robotic Systems”).
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Konstantin NADEIN, Alexander KOVALEV, and Stanislav N. GORB developed the scientific question and prepared the study design. Konstantin NADEIN carried out the experiments, calculations, and observations, and prepared the manuscript and figures. Alexander KOVALEV carried out calculations and figures. All the co-authors discussed the results and revised the manuscript.
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Konstantin NADEIN. His current position is a research scientist at the Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics at the University of Kiel, Germany. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology at the V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine. He received his Ph.D. degree in zoology and entomology at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. NADEIN was a research scientist at the Institute of Zoology, Ukraine, an associate professor at the Institute of Ecology, Economics and Law, Ukraine, Humboldt research fellow at the Tübingen University, research scientist at the Senckenberg German Entomological Institute, Germany. NADEIN’s research focuses on the functional morphology and biomechanics of invertebrates, bioinspired locomotory systems, as well as taxonomy and paleontology of beetles. He received the Schmalhauzen Prize for young scientists in zoology in 2009 and Alexander von Humboldt research fellowship for experienced scientists in 2013. NADEIN has authored more than 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Alexander KOVALEV. He received his Ph.D. degrees in mathematics and physics from the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Science in Pushchino, Russia, in 2005. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the 3rd Institute of Physics, Stuttgart University, Germany and in the Max Plank Institute for the Complex Systems, Germany. He joined the Functional Morphology and Biomechanics department of the Institute of Zoology, Kiel University, Germany, in 2009. His current position is a department engineer. His research areas cover biomechanics of insects, other animals, and plants with focus on adhesion and friction phenomena. He has authored more than 170 scientific publications.
Stanislav GORB. He is a professor and director at the Zoological Institute of the Kiel University, Germany. He received his Ph.D. degree in zoology and entomology at the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev, Ukraine. GORB was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna, Austria, a research assistant at University of Jena, a group leader at the Max Planck Institutes for Developmental Biology in Tübingen and for Metals Research in Stuttgart, Germany. GORB’s research focuses on morphology, structure, biomechanics, physiology, and evolution of surface-related functional systems in animals and plants, as well as the development of biologically inspired technological surfaces and systems. He received the Schlossmann Award in Biology and Materials Science in 1995, International Forum Design Gold Award in 2011 and Materialica “Best of” Award in 2011. In 1998, he was the BioFuture Competition winner for his works on biological attachment devices as possible sources for biomimetics. In 2018, he received Karl-Ritter-von-Frisch Medal of German Zoological Society. GORB is Corresponding member of Academy of the Science and Literature Mainz, Germany (since 2010) and Member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany (since 2011). GORB has authored several books, more than 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and five patents.
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Nadein, K., Kovalev, A. & Gorb, S.N. Tribological properties of the beetle leg joints. Friction 12, 2791–2807 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-024-0933-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-024-0933-0