About

Prof. Eduard Arzt is an internationally recognized researcher in the field of materials science and engineering, with a focus on high temperature alloys, electromigration mechanisms, thin film strength, and gecko-inspired adhesives. He joined the faculty in 2023 as a Distinguished Visiting Professor and is dedicated to identifying and strengthening new, fruitful paths of collaboration between complementary branches of materials science and engineering. His current research emphasizes micropatterning of elastomeric surfaces as a sustainable paradigm for modulating mechanical interactions, including the design of architectured adhesives for biomedical applications and microstructures for gripping and retrieving satellite debris in space. Prior to his current position, Arzt served as Professor for New Materials and Scientific Director of the INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken until 2022. He also co-directed the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart from 1990 to 2007. He holds a PhD in physics from the University of Vienna and has held visiting positions at Cambridge University, Stanford University, and M.I.T. He is a recipient of numerous high science awards, including the 2023 William D. Nix Award of TMS, and is a member of the Leopoldina German Academy of Sciences, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and the US National Academy of Engineering. Arzt is also the Editor-in-Chief of the review journal Progress in Materials Science and a co-founder of a deep tech start-up in robotics.

Research topics

• Nanotechnology
• Composite material
• Materials science
• Biochemical engineering
• Biology
• Engineering
• Geology
• Construction engineering

Selected publications

• Strong and Programmable Dry Adhesion through Graded Modulus Design

  Research Square · 2026-02-12

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Fluorosilane-induced softening and collapse of micropillar arrays

  Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering · 2025-11-12 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Abstract Replica molding is a widely used technique for the fabrication of polymer microstructures. As structural dimensions decrease, anti-stick surface treatment of the mold becomes increasingly critical to ensure clean demolding and preserve structural integrity. We fabricated arrays of micropillars with 20 µ m diameter and 60 µ m height using medical-grade polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), MDX4-4210, and observed a high fraction of collapsed pillars for the first molding after fluorosilanization of the mold to reduce sticking. To address this issue, we systematically investigated the surface treatment protocol for the molds, made from the PDMS Sylgard 184. We provide results from complementary measurement methods, to show that an additional vacuum step partially removes unbound fluorosilane, but does not improve pillar stability. In contrast, a method based on multiple replications, where the first replication effectively removes residual fluorosilane from the mold, significantly enhances structural stability. Mechanical testing further revealed that the presence of fluorosilane lowers the Young’s modulus of both PDMS materials, MDX4-4210 and Sylgard 184, suggesting interference with the curing process. Confocal Brillouin microscopy indicated an elongation of replicated pillars and revealed a softening close to the surfaces, as well as mechanical inhomogeneities in collapsed pillars. We discuss modifications to the molding protocol to improve the reproducibility and mechanical stability of the replicated microstructures, offering insights towards more reliable routes for the fabrication of residue-free, high-aspect ratio features with controlled surface chemistry.

  PublisherDOI

• The shape of Nature’s stingers revealed

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2024-02-06 · 13 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Stinger-like structures in living organisms evolved convergently across taxa for both defensive and offensive purposes, with the main goal being penetration and damage. Our observations over a broad range of taxa and sizes, from microscopic radiolarians to narwhals, reveal a self-similar geometry of the stinger extremity: the diameter ( d ) increases along the distance from the tip ( x ) following a power law <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>x</mml:mi> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>d</mml:mi> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> </mml:msup> </mml:math> , with the tapering exponent varying universally between 2 and 3. We demonstrate, through analytical and experimental mechanics involving three-dimensional (3D) printing, that this geometry optimizes the stinger’s performance; it represents a trade-off between the propensity to buckle, for n smaller than 2, and increased penetration force, for n greater than 3. Moreover, we find that this optimal tapering exponent does not depend on stinger size and aspect ratio (base diameter over length). We conclude that for Nature’s stingers, composed of biological materials with moduli ranging from hundreds of megapascals to ten gigapascals, the necessity for a power-law contour increases with sharpness to ensure sufficient stability for penetration of skin-like tissues. Our results offer a solution to the puzzle underlying this universal geometric trait of biological stingers and may provide a new strategy to design needle-like structures for engineering or medical applications.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Application of Machine Learning to Object Manipulation with Bio-Inspired Microstructures 

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Revealing the coaction of viscous and multistability hysteresis in an adhesive, nominally flat punch: A combined numerical and experimental study

  Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids · 2023-03-08 · 14 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Application of machine learning to object manipulation with bio-inspired microstructures

  Journal of Materials Research and Technology · 2023-10-06 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Bioinspired fibrillar adhesives have been proposed for novel gripping systems with enhanced scalability and resource efficiency. Here, we propose an in-situ optical monitoring system of the contact signatures, coupled with image processing and machine learning. Visual features were extracted from the contact signature images recorded at maximum compressive preload and after lifting a glass object. The algorithm was trained to cope with several degrees of misalignment and with unbalanced weight distributions by off-center gripping. The system allowed an assessment of the picking process for objects of various mass (200, 300, and 400 g). Several classifiers showed a high accuracy of about 90% for successful prediction of attachment, depending on the mass of the object. The results promise improved reliability of handling objects, even in difficult situations.

  PublisherDOI

• Tuning the Release Force of Microfibrillar Adhesives by Geometric Design

  Advanced Materials Interfaces · 2022-09-16 · 14 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract Switchable micropatterned adhesives exhibit high potential as novel resource‐efficient grippers in future pick‐and‐place systems. In contrast with the adhesion acting during the “pick” phase, the release during the “place” phase has received little research attention so far. For objects smaller than typically 1 mm, release may become difficult as gravitational and inertial forces are no longer sufficient to allow shedding of the object. A compressive overload can initiate release by elastic buckling of the fibrils, but the switching ratio (ratio between high and low adhesion force) is typically only 2–3. In this work, new microfibrillar designs are reported exhibiting directional buckling with high switching ratios in the order of 20. Their functionality is illustrated by in situ optical observation of the contact signatures. Such micropatterns can enable the successful release of small objects with high placement accuracy.

  PublisherDOI

• A bioinspired snap-through metastructure for manipulating micro-objects

  Science Advances · 2022-11-16 · 67 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Micro-objects stick tenaciously to each other—a well-known show-stopper in microtechnology and in handling micro-objects. Inspired by the trigger plant, we explore a mechanical metastructure for overcoming adhesion involving a snap-action mechanism. We analyze the nonlinear mechanical response of curved beam architectures clamped by a tunable spring, incorporating mono- and bistable states. As a result, reversible miniaturized snap-through devices are successfully realized by micron-scale direct printing, and successful pick-and-place handling of a micro-object is demonstrated. The technique is applicable to universal scenarios, including dry and wet environment, or smooth and rough counter surfaces. With an unprecedented switching ratio (between high and low adhesion) exceeding 10 4 , this concept proposes an efficient paradigm for handling and placing superlight objects.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Revealing the co-action of viscous and multistability hysteresis in an adhesive, nominally flat punch: A combined numerical and experimental study

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2022-11-23 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Viscoelasticity is well known to cause significant hysteresis of crack closure and opening when an elastomer is brought in and out of contact with a flat, rigid, adhesive counterface. A separate origin of adhesive hysteresis is small-scale, elastic multistability. Here, we study a system in which both mechanisms act concurrently. Specifically, we compare the simulated and experimentally measured time evolution of the interfacial force and the real contact area between a soft elastomer and a rigid, flat punch, to which small-scale, single-sinusoidal roughness is added. To this end, we further the Green's function molecular dynamics method and extend recently developed imaging techniques to elucidate the rate- and preload-dependence of the pull-off process. Our results reveal that hysteresis is much enhanced when the saddle points of the topography come into contact, which, however, is impeded by viscoelastic forces and may require sufficiently large preloads. A similar coaction of viscous- and multistability effects is expected to occur in macroscopic polymer contacts and to be relevant, e.g., for pressure-sensitive adhesives and modern adhesive gripping devices.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sliding Mechanism for Release of Superlight Objects from Micropatterned Adhesives

  Advanced Materials Interfaces · 2022-01-05 · 13 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract Robotic handling and transfer printing of micrometer‐sized superlight objects is a crucial technology in industrial fabrication. In contrast to the precise gripping with micropatterned adhesives, the reliable release of superlight objects with negligible weight is a great challenge. Slanted deformable polymer microstructures, with typical pillar cross‐section 150 µm × 50 µm, are introduced with various tilt angles that enable a reduction of adhesion by a switching ratio of up to 500. The experiments demonstrate that the release from a smooth surface involves sliding of the contact during compression and subsequent peeling of the object during retraction. The handling of a 0.5 mg perfluorinated polymer micro‐object with high accuracy in repeated pick‐and‐place cycles is demonstrated. Based on beam theory, the forces and moments acting at the tip of the microstructure are analyzed. As a result, an expression for the pull‐off force is proposed as a function of the sliding distance and a guide to an optimized design for these release structures is provided.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Gerhard Dehm

  Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien

  225 shared

• T. John Balk

  University of Kentucky

  120 shared

• Robert M. McMeeking

  King's College Hospital

  114 shared

• Ralph Spolenak

  ETH Zurich

  113 shared

• Oliver Kraft

  97 shared

• O. Kraft

  Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences

  92 shared

• Stanislav N. Gorb

  Kiel University

  83 shared

• René Hensel

  Leibniz-Institute for New Materials

  76 shared

Education

• PhD thesis, Department of Physical Metallurgy and Materials Testing

  University of Leoben

  1980

• Dr. phil., Department of Phyiscs

  University of Vienna

  1980

• Undergraduate, Department of Music

  University of Miami

  1973

Awards & honors

• 2023 William D. Nix Award of TMS
• Member of the Leopoldina German Academy of Sciences
• Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
• Member of the US National Academy of Engineering