Probe tack tests of pressure-sensitive-adhesives on low energy surfaces

We are interested in the debonding mechanisms of a soft adhesive from low energy surfaces. We show that we can control the adhesion by modifying the composition of the surface. During the debonding on non adhesive surfaces we observed large interfacial cracks which propagate quickly from the border, whereas on more adherent surfaces we observed multiple cavities in the bulk of the adhesive layer which grow slowly and lead to a fibrillar structure. This study shows that adhesion can be controlled by the debonding mechanism and particularly by the crack velocity. In this case, adhesion is controlled by a dynamic process rather than by a thermodynamic quantity.