Oral friction on the tongue surface plays a pivotal role in mechanics of food transport, speech, sensing, and hedonic responses. The highly specialized biophysical features of the human tongue such as micropapillae-dense topology, optimum wettability, and deformability present architectural challenges in designing artificial tongue surfaces, and the absence of such a biomimetic surface impedes the fundamental understanding of tongue–food/fluid interaction. Herein, we fabricate for the first time, a 3D soft biomimetic surface that replicates the topography and wettability of a real human tongue. The 3D-printed fabrication contains a Poisson point process-based (random) papillae distribution and is employed to micromold soft silicone surfaces with wettability modifications. We demonstrate the unprecedented capability of these surfaces to replicate the theoretically defined and simulated collision probability of papillae and to closely resemble the tribological performances of human tongue masks. These de novo biomimetic surfaces pave the way for accurate quantification of mechanical interactions in the soft oral mucosa.

中文翻译：

---

用于摩擦学应用的3D仿生舌头模拟表面

舌头表面的口腔摩擦在食物运输，语音，感知和享乐反应的机制中起着关键作用。人类舌头的高度专业化的生物物理特征，例如微乳头密集的拓扑结构，最佳的润湿性和可变形性，在设计人造舌头表面时面临着结构上的挑战，而缺乏这种仿生表面阻碍了对舌头-食物/流体相互作用的基本理解。在此，我们首次制造了3D仿生软表面，可复制真实人舌的形貌和可湿性。3D打印的制造品包含基于泊松点法的（随机）乳头状分布，并用于微模制具有润湿性修饰的柔软硅树脂表面。我们证明了这些表面具有空前的能力，能够复制理论上定义和模拟的乳头碰撞概率，并非常类似于人类口罩的摩擦学性能。这些从头仿生的表面为精确定量口腔粘膜中的机械相互作用铺平了道路。