The peeling of a flexible strip attached by a cavitating viscous adhesive

Summary A theory is presented for the peeling of a completely flexible strip from a plane rigid surface to which it had been attached by a thin layer of adhesive. The adhesive is taken to be a purely viscousNewtonian liquid, and is assumed to fail by cavitation or the dilation of bubbles of trapped gas. By such a model a relation between peeling rate and peeling force (which in the absence of any reduction in pressure within the cavities would be linear) may be found.The significance of surface tension in defining boundary conditions in dividing liquid layers, is discussed, and the implication of a vanishing significance of surface tension on the limiting form of these conditions, provides a basis for the analysis.The absence of relevant experimental data precludes direct comparison, but the physical appearance of real adhesives in peeling is seen to be not inconsistent with the model proposed.This work was performed at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. The assistance of an Australian Commonwealth Public Service Board Scholarship, and the computing facilities at the Mathematical Laboratory, University of Cambridge, England, is gratefully acknowledged.