Adhesive contact and kinetics of adherence between a rigid cylinder and an elastomeric solid

The equilibrium contact of a rigid cylinder applied against the flat and smooth surface of a soft elastomer sample (natural rubber) is examined, and a method is proposed for evaluating both the Young modulus E of the rubber-like material tested and the Dupre energy of adhesion w using a results similar to that recently proposed by Chaudhury et al. from the previous work of Barquins. New results on the kinetics of adherence at imposed normal load are presented. They comprise a study on variations of the strain energy release rate G and of the associate dissipation function Phi = (G - w)/w as a function of the crack propagation speed V at the interface between the rigid cylinder and the elastic solid. As expected, a master curve Phi(V)is found, confirming the variation of Phi as the 0.55 power function of V, as recently established in rolling and rebound experiments with the same rubber-like material(natural rubber). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.