Replication of shark skin based on micro-electroforming

Direct replication of biological surface morphology using micro-electroforming method to form biomimetic surfaces with relatively vivid morphology is a new process extension from polymer forming to metal deposition forming of the bio-replicated forming technology. Taking shark skins as the replication templates, the conducting layer was deposited on the shark scales with the inclined magnetron sputtering process according to the structural characteristics of shark skins. Then the micro-electroforming process adopting the pulse-reverse currents was conducted. Finally the shark skin micro-electroforming template and the biomimetic shark skin were obtained. The preliminary analysis on replication precision indicated that the micro-electroforming method could be used to replicate the outward morphology of the shark skins with good precision, which validated the application of the bio-replicated forming technology in the direct replication of the complex and microscale biological surface morphology.