Eur. Phys. J. E (2014) 37: 3
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2014-14003-8

Regular Article

Quantitative analysis of the debonding structure of soft adhesives

¹ Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Polymeres et Milieux Disperses, UMR7615 ESPCI-CNRS-UPMC, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005, Paris, France
² Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, École Polytechnique-CNRS, 91128, Palaiseau, France
³ Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogenes, UMR7636 CNRS/ESPCI Paristech, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Université Paris Diderot, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005, Paris, France

^* e-mail: anke.lindner@espci.fr

Received: 3 May 2013
Revised: 31 July 2013
Accepted: 6 January 2014
Published online: 27 January 2014

Abstract

We experimentally investigate the growth dynamics of cavities nucleating during the first stages of debonding of three different model adhesives. The material properties of these adhesives range from a more liquid-like material to a soft viscoelastic solid and are carefully characterized by small strain oscillatory shear rheology as well as large strain uniaxial extension. The debonding experiments are performed on a probe tack set-up. Using high contrast images of the debonding process and precise image analysis tools, we quantify the total projected area of the cavities, the average cavity shape and growth rate and link these observations to the material properties. These measurements are then used to access corrected effective stress and strain curves that can be directly compared to the results from the uniaxial extension.