The Role of Surface Roughness on Adhesion and Friction of Soft Materials
Pradeep Guduru (Brown University)
Eringen Medal Symposium in honor of G. Ravichandran
Mon 4:20 - 5:40
Salomon 001
The role of surface roughness on adhesion and friction of soft materials is important in several industrial applications as well as in biological locomotion. To quantify the role of surface roughness, a model for wavy surface adhesion and friction is presented. It is shown that surface waviness causes the detachment process to proceed in alternating stable and unstable segments. Unstable segments dissipate mechanical energy and lead to apparent toughening and apparent strengthening. The instability induced toughening and strengthening have the potential to be exploited in designing surface topographies to enhance reversible adhesion of soft materials. An experimental study is presented that examines the validity of the theoretical predictions. Similar instabilities are predicted in sliding as well, resulting in enhanced sliding resistance due to surface roughness.