https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2015-15130-4
Regular Article
Role of adhesion between asperities in the formation of elastic solid/solid contacts
Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, CNRS, Univ. Paris Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405, Orsay Cedex, France
* e-mail: christophe.poulard@u-psud.fr
Received:
15
July
2015
Accepted:
20
November
2015
Published online:
23
December
2015
We investigated the formation of a contact between a smooth sphere of elastomer and a micro-patterned elastomer substrate. We focussed our attention on the transition between a contact only established at the top of the pillars, and a mixed contact with a central zone of full contact surrounded by a top contact corona, which was observed when the normal load was increased. The full contact zone always nucleated with a finite radius, and the transition appears to be a first-order transition, with a hysteresis due to the creation of an adhesive zone between the pillars. We propose to include the effect of the new inter-pillar adhesion to produce a realistic treatment of the mechanics of these complex contacts. This new approach quantitatively accounts for the evolution of the observed jump in the radius of the full contact with the geometrical parameters of the pattern.
Key words: Soft Matter: Interfacial Phenomena and Nanostructured Surfaces
© EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2015