Adherence of a Rectangular Flat Punch Onto a Clamped Plate: Transition From a Rigid Plate to a Flexible Membrane

Abstract

A linear elastic solution is proposed for the adhesion/delamination of a constrained thin film adhered to a rectangular flat punch. As the punch is pulled away by an external load, the film deforms and gradually delaminates until a line contact is left prior to complete separation. This is in sharp contrast with the finite pull-off contact radius as predicted by the classical Johnson-Kendall-Roberts theory for adhesion between solid bodies. In order to portray the transition from a platelike to a membranelike behavior, the film thickness and stiffness are allowed to span a wide range of values. Simple experiments demonstrated the validity of the theory.