ABSTRACT
Various mechanisms related to the adhesion of polymers have been presented [1-4]. First, there is the thermodynamic work of adhesion, the magnitude of which is determined by intermolecular forces [1]. The types of interactions where the adhesion is dominated by the surface energy are often analyzed using contact mechanics theories such as those derived by Johnson, Kendall, and Roberts (JKR) [5], or by Derjaguin, Muller, and Toporov (DMT) [6], or various transitional models [7, 8]. These approaches predict the interaction area as a function of the load and differ in their assumptions of the deformations involved and the modeling of the interaction forces present. Due to the area relationship, any dynamics of the interaction is related to the rate of advancement of the contact zone.
