Contact, Adhesion and Rupture of Elastic Solids

In 1970 an investigation into rubber friction, sponsored by a manufacturer of automobile windscreen wipers, was being carried out at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England. When a smooth spherical slider of soft rubber was placed in contact with flat glass or perspex, the compliance of the rubber enabled it to conform to any slight roughness of the two surfaces such that perfect contact was obtained. In these circumstances the surfaces were found to adhere: under load the contact ar...