Adhesion and pull-off force of an elastic indenter from an elastic half-space

Abstract

The adhesion between an elastic punch and an elastic half-space is investigated for plane and axisymmetric geometries. The pull-off force is determined for a range of material combinations. This configuration is characterized by a generalized stress intensity factor which has an order less than one-half. The critical value of this generalized stress intensity factor is related to the work of adhesion, under tensile loading, by using a cohesive zone model in an asymptotic analysis of the separation near the elastic punch corner. These results are used in conjunction with existing results in the literature for the frictionless contact between an elastic semi-infinite strip and half-space in both plane and axisymmetric configurations. It is found that the value of the pull-off force includes a dependence on the maximum stress of the cohesive zone model. As expected, this dependence vanishes as the punch becomes rigid in that case the order of the singularity approaches one-half. At the other limit, when the half-space becomes rigid, the stresses become bounded and uniform and the pull-off force depends linearly on the cohesive stress and is independent of the work of adhesion. Thus, the transition from fracture-dominated adhesion to strength-dominated adhesion is demonstrated.