ABSTRACT

The science of adhesion has the curious distinction of being at one and the same time both a “sticky” subject and a “slippery” one. The sticky aspect is obvious and needs no further comment; it is the slippery aspect that will draw much of our attention in this volume. The essential problem arises from the fact that adhesion is a basic property of surfaces, and according to the famous physicist Wolfgang Pauli: “God created matter; surfaces were invented by devil.” Surfaces are indeed devilish entities, especially for those who seek a quantitative understanding of their behavior. This arises from the fact that, for nearly all macroscopic objects, the surface area forms a very small portion of the bulk, is further subject to highly asymmetric forces, and is strongly prone to contamination and a large variety of defects.