A recent experiment has shown that the force required to pull off a flat circular rigid punch in adhesive contact with an array of elastic fibrils is sensitive to the thickness of the elastic backing layer to which these fibrils are attached. This result motivates us to study the effect of sample compliance on the adhesion of fibril arrays. A closed form expression for the compliance of such ar...

The properties of the fiber/matrix interface in composites have an influence on their overall performance. Common methods for studying the interface are micromechanical tests that load a single fiber/matrix interface to failure. Two popular tests are the microbond test [1] and the single-fiber, pull-out test [2]. In a microbond test a droplet of matrix is sheared off the fiber by pulling the fi...

Problem statement: Dammar is a natural resin that used anciently in varnish production. The use of dammar natural resin in coating is limited by undesirable properties for application in coating where it is considered very brittle. Due to dammar's brittle nature, an aged dammar coating can be easily scratched or abraded. Approach: Dammar natural resin could be modified into SiliconeDammar by us...

A novel switchable adhesive, inspired by the gecko's fibrillar dry attachment system, is introduced. It consists of a patterned surface with an array of mushroom-shaped pillars having two distinct heights. The different pillar heights allow control of the pull-off force in two steps by application of a low and a high preload. For low preload, only the long pillars form contact, resulting in a l...

In this study, the effect of the substrate roughness on adhesion of mushroom-shaped microstructure was experimentally investigated. To do so, 12 substrates having different isotropic roughness were prepared from the same material by replicating topography of different surfaces. The pull-off forces generated by mushroom-shaped microstructure in contact with the tested substrates were measured an...

It is shown that the value of adhesion strength at the metallisation/polymer interface can be determined directly from a printed wiring board (PWB) by a pull-off method. However, careful optimisation of the test geometry is required. In particular, the mechanical properties of the substrate are important. The use of flexible substrate in the test results in severe underestimation of the adhesio...

The torque resistance of zirconia ceramic heads/titanium taper trunnion junctions was tested in accordance with ISO 7206-9:1994(E); using twelve modified heads of 32 mm diameter under representative physiological conditions. Test parameters studied included assembly force, vertical load during test (test load) and head length. Mean torque resistances measured were 8.9 N m for a 1 kN test load a...

The effect of aspect ratio on the pull-off stress and stiffness of soft elastic fibres is studied using elasticity and numerical analysis. The adhesive interface between a soft fibre and a smooth rigid surface is modelled using the Dugdale-Barenblatt model. Numerical simulations show that, while pull-off stress increases with decreasing aspect ratio, fibres get stiffer. Also, for sufficiently l...