Adhesive of the Blue Mussel
Controlling Cross-Linking

By Sander Haemers
May 2003
Delft University Press
ISBN: 90-407-2402-4
103 pages, Illustrated, 6 1/2" x 9 1/2"
$54.00 Paper Original

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Contents of this doctoral dissertation include: Biology of mussel adhesion, Mussel species, Coil Dimensions of Mefp-1, Flory's Virtual Chain model, Oxidation and aggregation, Effect of oxidation rate on aggregation, adsorption, Multilayer adsorption, Synthesis. Marine organisms are capable of gluing themselves, underwater to a wide range of surfaces like wood, steel, rock, etc. From the viewpoint of adhesion theory that is quite a trick. Water with all its polar interactions and hydrogen bonding capacities has to be displaced form the interference and, subsequently, adhesive layers have to be built without the possibility of drying. This adhesive layer must be able to keep its cohesive strength in sea water, whereas the only solvent the mussel can use to store and transport its adhesive in is water!

Marine Biology; Materials Science

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