ABSTRACT
The JKR theory of contact between solid elastic lenses has been used extensively to characterize the surface energy and tack of materials (for examples, see [1-15]). The JKR theory is an extension of the Hertzian theory of contact [16], in that it accounts for adhesion between the lenses by including the effect of attractive sur face forces that act when the bodies are in contact. These surface forces are mod eled by adding a tensile stress distribution to the usual compressive Hertzian pres sure that exists in the contact region. Because it is only within the contact region that the stresses are modified, the JKR theory neglects any surface forces that act outside the contact zone, and, therefore, may not be applicable in all situations (e.g. to hard materials that produce small contact regions). However, the JKR the ory has proven to be extremely useful in modeling the adhesion contact of poly meric materials (typically elastomers), where the effect of the surface forces can be measured fairly easily to obtain the work of adhesion, W9 of the materials. The work of adhesion is often used to quantify the adhesion properties of the system.
