Mechanics of Hysteretic Adhesive Elastic Mechanical Contact Between Rough Surfaces

Download or read book Mechanics of Hysteretic Adhesive Elastic Mechanical Contact Between Rough Surfaces written by Haneesh Kesari and published by Stanford University. This book was released on 2011 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In experiments that involve contact with adhesion between two surfaces, as found in atomic force microscopy or nanoindentation, two distinct contact force (P ) vs. indentation-depth (h) curves are often measured depending on whether the indenter moves towards or away from the sample. The origin of this hysteresis is not well understood and is often attributed to moisture, plasticity or viscoelasticity. We present experiments, atomistic simulations and continuum mechanics models that will show that hysteresis can exist without these effects, and that its magnitude depends on surface roughness. We explain the observed hysteresis as the result of a series of surface instabilities, where the contact area grows or recedes by a finite amount. We also demonstrate that when this is the case material properties can be estimated uniquely from contact experiments even when the measured P -h curves are not unique. The hysteresis energy loss during contact is also a measure of the adhesive toughness of the contact interface. We show experimentally that roughness can both increase and decrease the adhesive toughness of the contact interface. We show through numerical simulation of continuum adhesive contact models that the contact interface is optimally tough at conditions at which the contact region is at the cusp of the transition through which it turns form being mostly simply connected to being predominantly multiply connected.