Adhesional rolling behavior of micro-cylinder: Experimental observation of adhesional contacts and measurement of critical rolling resistance

Abstract

Abstract There has been much research offering theoretical explanations of rolling behavior considering the effect of adhesion, which is essential when the object is small. However, there has been a shortage of experimental verifications because objects are too small to manipulate and observe directly. This study measured the moment and observed the contact area before, during, and after rolling with an experimental setup on a relatively large scale. The experiment setup consisted of two glass cylinders which were placed in between two PDMS blocks. This paper reports three main findings: the results suggest that viscosity influences the transition of states of the contact. The critical rolling resistance is dependent on the radius of the cylinders and the applied weight to the cylinders. The results support the theoretical expectation of the value of a critical rolling resistance, which is the product of the radius of the cylinders and the work of adhesion. This study offers experimental foundations to develop theories of rolling of micro-cylinders.