A two stage theory, consisting of contact establishment as the first, and bond formation as the second stage, is proposed for autohesion. A viscoelastic contact theory is worked out based on the shape of the surfaces, the contact pressure, and the temperature. Contact of two spheres of polystyrene and a practical surface consisting of cylinders and flats are analyzed mathematically by extending the classical Hertz elastic contact problem by employing elastic-viscoelastic analogy developed by Alfrey and Gurnee. Karam’s fourteen element generalized Voigt model is used for computations. © 1969 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
