472 Prakt. Met. Sonderband 38 (2006) 
aerospace, energy (solar power, wind power and atomic power plants) industry. Also 
everyday experiences such as dirt adhering to clothes, chalk adhering to the 
blackboard, ice adhering to different surfaces (and many more examples) show the 
importance and universal nature of adhesion phenomena. Each case of adhesion is 
unique and has to be studied separate. 
On the other hand, adhesion is desired and even a prerequisit in manufacturing of 
novel composit materials or adhesive joints. In those cases the strength of the bond 
between the materials is to a great degree determined by the adhesive properties of 
the surfaces. 
1. MANUFACTURING ANTIADHESIVE METAL SURFACES & 
BIOMIMETIC TRANSFER 
There is not “one” or “a set” of standard antiadhesive surfaces to choose from, which 
have been optimised throughout the history of technology and can therefore be used 
in industrial implementations without further considerations. Development of 
functional surfaces for technology has not taken place in an evolutionary manner i.e. 
through constant development in an ever-changing environment. In biology the 
situation is somewhat different since nature had more time to develop surfaces which 
show multifunctional properties which can adopt themselves to the environment. A 
well-known example of an antiadhesive (and also self-cleaning) biological surface is 
the leaf of Nelumbo nucifera or the sacred Lotos [1]. The surface is covered with 
selfassembled waxes which form a nanostructure upon the underlying micro structure 
(cell wall structures and cuticular folds) thus exhibits a hierarchial topography [2,3,4] 
(Figure 1). The wax components are hydrophobic and therefore repel water 
excellently as a result of both hierarchial surface structure and the chemical 
properties of the waxes. 
Fig. 1: Nelumbo nucifera the Lotos plant (left), an SEM micrograph of a Lotos 
leaf showing the hierarchial topography of nanosized selfassembled 
hydrophobic waxes on an underlying microstructure (right). 
Since both particles (“dirt”) and water do not adhere to (or wet) the surface the former 
is easily removed by water droplets (self-cleaning) as shown in figure 2. The self- 
cleaning ability as a result of the hierarchial topography and surface chemistry of the 
leaf is often refered to as the Lotus-effect® and has led to the development of new 
products such as facade paints [5]