A Modular Peel Fixture for Tape Peel Tests on Immovable Substrates

Background

Peel tests are frequently used to perform measurements of adhesive strength for pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) tapes. Current lab methodologies for 90° peel tests translate the model substrate orthogonally to the peel direction in order to maintain the peel angle, precluding testing from immovable substrates.

Objective

It was our objective to develop a peel fixture capable of testing temporary pavement marking (TPM) tapes and other PSA tapes from immovable substrates such as roadways surfaces.

Methods

We present a modular peel fixture for conducting peel experiments directly on immovable substrates. The fixture was validated through a series of peel tests on consumer tapes to reproduce the linear width dependence and viscoelastic rate dependence found in traditional peeling setups. To test the capabilities of the fixture, a series of peel tests were conducted with various tapes on controlled surfaces, and a commercial tape on various immovable substrates.

Results

We demonstrate the ability of our fixture to reproduce results reported for traditional peel tests from literature. In addition, we were able to conduct peel tests directly on immovable substrates such as the benchtop.

Conclusions

This fixture shows potential for both traditional peeling tests, and for use in in-situ peel experiments from substrates relevant to the end application of the PSA tape.

     

Peeling behavior of a bio-inspired nano-film on a substrate

A peeling model is proposed to analyze the peeling properties of bio-mimetic nano-films using the finite element method (FEM) and theoretical approach. The influences of the nano-film’s adhesion length, thickness, elastic modulus, roughness and peeling angle on the peeling force were considered as well as the effect of the viscoelastic behavior. It has been found that the effective adhesion length, at which the peeling force attained maximum, was much smaller than the real length of nano-films; and the shear force dominated in the case of smaller peeling angles, whereas, the normal force dominated at larger peeling angles. The total peeling force decreased with an increasing peeling angle. Two limiting values of the peeling-off force can be found in the viscoelastic model, which corresponds to the smaller and larger loading rate cases. The effects of nano-film thickness and Young’s modulus on peeling behaviors were also discussed. The results obtained are helpful for understanding the micro-adhesion mechanisms of biological systems, such as geckos.     

Peeling behavior of a viscoelastic thin-film on a rigid substrate

In order to study the adhesion mechanism of a viscoelastic thin-film on a substrate, peeling experiment of a viscoelastic polyvinylchloride (PVC) thin-film on a rigid substrate (glass) is carried out. The effects of peeling rate, peeling angle, film thickness, surface roughness and the interfacial adhesive on the peel-off force are considered. It is found that both the viscoelastic properties of the film and the interfacial adhesive contribute to the rate-dependent peel-off force. For a fixed peeling rate, the peel-off force decreases with the increasing peeling angle. Increasing film thickness or substrate roughness leads to an increase of the peel-off force. Viscoelastic energy release rate in the present experiment can be further predicted by adopting a recently published theoretical model. It is shown that the energy release rate increases with the increase of peeling rates or peeling angles. The results in the present paper should be helpful for understanding the adhesion mechanism of a viscoelastic thin-film.     

Peeling of an elastic membrane tape adhered to a substrate by a uniform cohesive traction

An analytical model is provided for the peeling of a tape from a surface to which it adheres through cohesive tractions. The tape is considered to be a membrane without bending stiffness and is initially attached everywhere to a flat rigid surface. The tape is assumed to deform in plane strain, and finite deformations in the form of elastic strains are accounted for. The cohesive tractions are taken to be uniform when the tape is within a critical interaction distance from the substrate and then to fall immediately to zero once this critical interaction distance is exceeded. When the distance between the tape and the substrate is zero, repulsive and attractive tractions balance to zero; in this segment, sliding of the tape relative to the substrate is forbidden when we pull the tape up somewhere in the middle, though we permit such sliding when the tape is peeled from one end. In the cohesive zone and where the tape is detached, the interaction of the tape with the substrate is frictionless. Results are given for the force to peel a neo-Hookean tape at any angle up to vertical when one end of it is pulled away from the substrate, as well as for scenarios when the tape is lifted somewhere in the middle to form a V shape being pulled away from the substrate.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of peeling a DNA molecule on substrate

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed to study adhesion and peeling of a short fragment of single strand DNA (ssDNA) molecule from a graphite surface. The critical peel-off force is found to depend on both the peeling angle and the elasticity of ssDNA. For the short ssDNA strand under investigation, we show that the simulation results can be explained by a continuum model of an adhesive elastic band on substrate. The analysis suggests that it is often the peak value, rather than the mean value, of adhesion energy which determines the peeling of a nanoscale material.The project supported by the Distinguished Young Scholar Fund of NSFC (10225209) and key project from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KJCX2-SW-L2)     

高温超导带材超导涂层局部脱黏后的电磁力学行为分析

高温超导带材因其高载流z能力、低交流损耗等优点, 在超导领域得到了广泛的关注, 然而在带材的应用中出现的力学问题严重阻碍了其应用. 基于此, 本文分析了受外部磁场激励YBCO高温超导带材在超导层局部脱黏后的电磁力学响应. 基于超导临界态Bean模型和弹性力学平面应变方法, 给出了超导薄膜内正应力与基底界面处切应力相关联的控制方程, 基于数值方法研究了超导薄膜内的正应力及基底界面处的切应力随外部磁场的变化规律. 结果显示: 在脱黏区域附近, 超导薄膜内的正应力和基底$\!-\!$薄膜界面处的切应力急剧增大, 该正应力及切应力极易引起超导层的进一步脱黏. 同时, 剪切应力在结构边缘处出现极值. 基底材料的属性, 特别是杨氏模量对结构内的应力影响显著, 在软基底材料结构中, 超导薄膜内将出现较大的正应力, 而基底材料较硬时, 在基底$\!-\!$薄膜界面处将出现较大的剪切应力, 这些因素均会引起超导涂层结构的力学及电学性能的退化. 本文研究可望为超导带材的加工制备及脱黏的处理提供一定的理论指引.      

On dissipative effects of paper web adhesion strength

This work is concerned with the adhesion strength between a paper web and a metal roll surface, which is a common situation in paper machines world-wide. It is shown that the classic expression relating the work of adhesion to the peeling angle and web tension is, in general, insufficient. An improved model is suggested to take into account the energy dissipation due to elastic–plastic deformation behavior of wet paper materials. To judge the model, an industrially relevant example of wet newsprint and a mild steel surface is studied. It is found that the agreement between theory and experimental observations is excellent. A key result is that elastic–plastic material behavior must always be included for wet paper materials in peeling processes.     

A material force method for inelastic fracture mechanics

A material force method is proposed for evaluating the energy release rate and work rate of dissipation for fracture in inelastic materials. The inelastic material response is characterized by an internal variable model with an explicitly defined free energy density and dissipation potential. Expressions for the global material and dissipation forces are obtained from a global balance of energy-momentum that incorporates dissipation from inelastic material behavior. It is shown that in the special case of steady-state growth, the global dissipation force equals the work rate of dissipation, and the global material force and J-integral methods are equivalent. For implementation in finite element computations, an equivalent domain expression of the global material force is developed from the weak form of the energy-momentum balance. The method is applied to model problems of cohesive fracture in a remote K-field for viscoelasticity and elastoplasticity. The viscoelastic problem is used to compare various element discretizations in combination with different schemes for computing strain gradients. For the elastoplastic problem, the effects of cohesive and bulk properties on the plastic dissipation are examined using calculations of the global dissipation force.     

Some basic questions on mechanosensing in cell–substrate interaction

Cells constantly probe their surrounding microenvironment by pushing and pulling on the extracellular matrix (ECM). While it is widely accepted that cell induced traction forces at the cell–matrix interface play essential roles in cell signaling, cell migration and tissue morphogenesis, a number of puzzling questions remain with respect to mechanosensing in cell–substrate interactions. Here we show that these open questions can be addressed by modeling the cell–substrate system as a pre-strained elastic disk attached to an elastic substrate via molecular bonds at the interface. Based on this model, we establish analytical and numerical solutions for the displacement and stress fields in both cell and substrate, as well as traction forces at the cell–substrate interface. We show that the cell traction generally increases with distance away from the cell center and that the traction-distance relationship changes from linear on soft substrates to exponential on stiff substrates. These results indicate that cell adhesion and migration behaviors can be regulated by cell shape and substrate stiffness. Our analysis also reveals that the cell traction increases linearly with substrate stiffness on soft substrates but then levels off to a constant value on stiff substrates. This biphasic behavior in the dependence of cell traction on substrate stiffness immediately sheds light on an existing debate on whether cells sense mechanical force or deformation when interacting with their surroundings. Finally, it is shown that the cell induced deformation field decays exponentially with distance away from the cell. The characteristic length of this decay is comparable to the cell size and provides a quantitative measure of how far cells feel into the ECM.     

Electric-magnetic-force characteristics of rare earth barium copper oxide superconductor high-field coils based on screening effect and strain sensitivity

Rare earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) is the most researched and commercialized second-generation high-temperature superconducting material. Due to the anisotropic structure, strong deformation sensitivity, and central field errors caused by screening current effects, it is still a challenge for commercialization applications. In this study, the transversely isotropic constitutive relationship is selected as the mechanical model based on the structural characteristics of REBCO tapes, and suitable microelements are selected to equate the elastic constants using their average stress-strain relationships. Then, a two-dimensional axisymmetric model for coils wound by single-layer tapes is constructed to analyze the dependence of the electric-magnetic-force distribution in the tape on the strain. Finally, the anisotropic approximation of the homogenized bulk method is used to equate large-turn high-field coils, and the electric-magnetic-force distribution characteristics of the coils with/without screening effects and mechanical strain conditions are investigated, respectively. The results reveal that the mechanical strain has a weakening effect on the electromagnetic field distribution of superconducting tapes, but causes a significant enhancement in the force field distribution. In the presence of 0.5% mechanical strain, the maximum weakening of the peak value of the current density and the critical current density inside the high-field coil can reach about 8% and 13%, respectively, with a nearly 5 times increase in the peak stress. The screening current makes the current field distribution inside the coil improve by about 10 times. The screening current induced magnetic field can reach up to 0.8 T, making the relative error of the high-field coil center up to 7.8%.     

A 3D Griffith peeling model to unify and generalize single and double peeling theories

It has been shown in recent years that many species in Nature employ hierarchy and contact splitting as a strategy to enhance the adhesive properties of their attachments. Maximizing the adhesive force is however not the only goal. Many animals can achieve a tunable adhesive force, which allows them to both strongly attach to a surface and easily detach when necessary. Here, we study the adhesive properties of 3D dendritic attachments, which are structures that are widely occurring in nature and which allow to achieve these goals. These structures exploit branching to provide high variability in the geometry, and thus tunability, and contact splitting, to increase the total peeling line and thus the adhesion force. By applying the same principles presented by A.A. Griffith 100 years ago, we derive an analytical model for the detachment forces as a function of their defining angles in 3D space, finding as limit cases 2D double peeling and 1D single peeling. We also develop a numerical model, including a nonlinear elastic constitutive law, for the validation of analytical calculations, allowing additionally to simulate the entire detachment phase, and discuss how geometrical variations influence the adhesive properties of the structure. Finally, we also realize a proof of concept experiment to further validate theoretical/numerical results. Overall, we show how this generalized attachment structure can achieve large variations in its adhesive and mechanical properties, exploiting variations of its geometrical parameters, and thus tunability. The in-depth study of similar basic structural units and their combination can in future lead to a better understanding of the mechanical properties of complex architectures found in Nature.

     

粘弹性岩体中支护圆形洞室施工过程的解析分析

地下洞室的开挖与支护是逐步的连续过程。对具有流变效应的粘弹性岩体,流变时效与施工效应发生耦合,变形与时间相关。针对深埋圆形洞室的施工,用半径时变函数模拟断面开挖过程。当岩体模拟为任一粘弹性材料时,将方程进行拉普拉斯变换求得位移通解,逆变换后代入边界条件确定待定函数,最终得到用洞周面力表达的围岩应力、位移统一解。区分开挖与支护时段,将半径时变函数、洞周面力不同表达式代入,利用支护后围岩与弹性支护接触条件建立关于支护力的Volterra积分方程。当岩石模拟为Boltzmann粘弹模型时,代入材料参数可求解积分方程得到支护力的确切表达,并进一步求得开挖过程及任意时刻支护后应力、位移分段解析表达式。表达式和算例分析表明:加支护后的径向位移增长呈指数形式变化且最终稳定于某一数值。最终洞型相同时,采用不同断面开挖速度且挖完立即支护时,开挖较快的情况位移变化较剧烈,而支护后最终稳定位移较小;但是,相应支护阶段产生的位移较大,支护力也较大。文中给出的方法可用于计算圆形洞室半径任意开挖并加支护后的应力、位移,适用于任一粘弹模型岩体的施工分析。     

Kinetic wrinkling of an elastic film on a viscoelastic substrate

A compressed elastic film on a compliant substrate can form wrinkles. On an elastic substrate, equilibrium and energetics set the critical condition and select the wrinkle wavelength and amplitude. On a viscous substrate, wrinkle grows over time and the kinetics selects the fastest growing wavelength. More generally, on a viscoelastic substrate, both energetics and kinetics play important roles in determining the critical condition, the growth rate, and the wavelength. This paper studies the wrinkling process of an elastic film on a viscoelastic layer, which in turn lies on a rigid substrate. The film is elastic and modeled by the nonlinear von Karman plate theory. The substrate is linear viscoelastic with a relaxation modulus typical of a cross-linked polymer. Beyond a critical stress, the film wrinkles by the out-of-plane displacement but remains bonded to the substrate. This study considers plane strain wrinkling and neglects the in-plane displacement. A classification of the wrinkling behavior is made based on the critical conditions at the elastic limits, the glassy and rubbery states of the viscoelastic substrate. Linear perturbation analyses are conducted to reveal the kinetics of wrinkling in films subjected to intermediate and large compressive stresses. It is shown that, depending on the stress level, the growth of wrinkles at the initial stage can be exponential, accelerating, linear, or decelerating. In all cases, the wrinkle amplitude saturates at an equilibrium state after a long time. Subsequently, both amplitude and wavelength of the wrinkle evolve, but the process is kinetically constrained and slow compared to the initial growth.     

Nonlinear damping in a micromechanical oscillator

Nonlinear elastic effects play an important role in the dynamics of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). A Duffing oscillator is widely used as an archetypical model of mechanical resonators with nonlinear elastic behavior. In contrast, nonlinear dissipation effects in micromechanical oscillators are often overlooked. In this work, we consider a doubly clamped micromechanical beam oscillator, which exhibits nonlinearity in both elastic and dissipative properties. The dynamics of the oscillator is measured in both frequency and time domains and compared to theoretical predictions based on a Duffing-like model with nonlinear dissipation. We especially focus on the behavior of the system near bifurcation points. The results show that nonlinear dissipation can have a significant impact on the dynamics of micromechanical systems. To account for the results, we have developed a continuous model of a geometrically nonlinear beam-string with a linear Voigt–Kelvin viscoelastic constitutive law, which shows a relation between linear and nonlinear damping. However, the experimental results suggest that this model alone cannot fully account for all the experimentally observed nonlinear dissipation, and that additional nonlinear dissipative processes exist in our devices.     

Stability of peeling for systems with rate independent decohesion energy

The stability of peeling is theoretically investigated for systems with rate independent decohesion energy. The effects of the system stiffness, tape geometry and variation of the bonding energy along the tape-substrate interface are analyzed. The conditions for having stable (controlled) or unstable (brutal) peeling are obtained analytically. The problem studied can provide insights on possible instabilities affecting the detachment process of gecko’s toes and other biological systems.     

砂岩球体法向恢复系数实验研究

法向恢复系数是岩崩块石运动分析的关键参数,其取值直接决定了块石的运动轨迹。本文中采用自行设计的碰撞实验装置和声频采样技术,测定了砂岩球体碰撞的法向恢复系数,研究了粒径、碰撞速度、含水状态和板的弹性特性4个因素对恢复系数的影响。结果表明:砂岩球体法向恢复系数存在复杂的尺寸效应,恢复系数随粒径的增大先增大后减小;碰撞过程中存在的黏弹性耗能机理和弹塑性损伤耗能机理共同作用产生了复杂的尺寸效应;受砂岩非均质特性的作用,粒径较小时,恢复系数的速度效应较明显(随速度增大而增大),粒径较大时速度对恢复系数的影响消失;砂岩饱和使黏弹性耗能和弹塑性损伤耗能增加,使恢复系数比风干时低;等效弹性模量对恢复系数的影响较大,等效弹性模量越大,法向恢复系数越小。     

Experimental and numerical investigations of the deformation of soft materials under tangential loading

The surface ‘tensile test’, in which tangential loads are applied through surface mounted adhesive tapes, is a viable method for the assessment of mechanical properties of soft materials, particularly biological soft materials in vivo. In the present work the deformation pattern and force–displacement relationship in the surface tensile test were experimentally investigated using surface displacement analysis (SDA) and numerically simulated using finite element modelling. The experimental and FE results showed close agreement using silicone rubber as a model material. The force–displacement relationship was found to be dependent on the tape separations. SDA measurements and FE simulation showed that the displacement and strain fields were not uniform and the distribution pattern varies with tape separation. A combined experimental–numerical approach to inversely extract material properties using multiple tests with different length scales is proposed and assessed using a model material.     

Mode mixity and nonlinear viscous effects on toughness of interfaces

This paper examines steady-state crack growth at interfaces between polymeric materials and hard substrates under quasi-static conditions. The polymeric material is taken to be an elastic nonlinear viscous solid while the substrate is treated as a rigid material. Void growth and coalescence in the rate-dependent fracture process zone is modeled by a nonlinear viscous porous strip of cell elements. In the first part of this paper, the polymeric background material surrounding the process zone is assumed to be purely elastic. Under fixed mode mixity, the computed interface toughness is found to be a monotonically increasing function of crack velocity; toughness also increases rapidly with higher rate sensitivity. This behavior can be explained in terms of voids growing in a strain-rate strengthened process zone. In the second part of the paper, the background material is also treated as an elastic nonlinear viscous solid. The competition between work of separation in the process zone and energy dissipation in the background material leads to a U-shaped toughness–crack velocity curve. Effects of mode mixity, initial porosity, rate sensitivity, as well as the initial yield strain on toughness are studied. The simulations produce trends that agree with interface toughness vs. crack velocity data reported in experimental studies for rubber toughened epoxy-paste adhesive and urethane acrylate adhesive.     

Transverse vibrations and vibrational heating of a rectangular bimorphous plate of dissipative piezoelectric material

The problem of induced resonance vibrations and dissipation heating in a rectangular bimorphous plate made of a dissipative piezoelectric material under a harmonic potential difference is tackled. The edges of the plate are considered to be hinged and ideally thermally insulated. The dissipation properties of the material are taken into account on the basis of the concept of complex characteristics, which are assumed to be temperature-independent. An exact solution is found for the problem. The critical value of the load parameter is determined when the maximum temperature reaches the Curie point. A finite-element method has been developed for investigating the dynamic behavior and temperature of vibrational heating that bimorphous plates made of a viscoelastic material undergo under a harmonic load. The results obtained for the electromechanical vibrations of plates by finite-element calculations and by an analytical solution are compared. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 35, No. 9, pp. 85–93, September, 1999.     

Microstructure-dependent nonlinear viscoelasticity due to extracellular flow within cellular structures

A constitutive model that highlights a special viscoelastic property of materials with cellular microstructures is developed. We model the microstructure as a regularly arranged system of the same elastic cells that are mutually interconnected by elastic linkages. The space between cells is filled by a fluid that may flow freely within this extracellular space. The macroscopic behavior of the whole structure is studied by means of continuum mechanics using a differential scheme with internal variables. Here, the internal variables are chosen as the distances that separate neighboring cells. The evolution equations are derived from the Clausius–Planck inequality, which considers the internal dissipation to be exclusively due to the extracellular fluid movement. Special attention is paid to incompressible materials in the context of uniaxial load. In this context, the importance of the fluid viscosity on material behavior is related to microstructural parameters like the cells’ dimensions and the relative stiffness between the cells and matrix elastic reinforcement.