THE ADHESION AND REMOVAL OF PARTICLES FROM SURFACES

The adhesion and removal of particles to and from substrates is a topi c of great interest for both scientific and technological reasons. Whe n a particle contacts a substrate, the adhesion-induced stresses cause deformations of the materials, which, in turn, affect adhesion. The s ize and nature of these deformations depend on both the interaction po tential and mechanical properties, such as their elastic moduli and yi eld strengths of the contacting materials. Because of the number of in teracting factors, particle adhesion and removal is a complex topic. M uch of the present understanding of particle adhesion is based on the theoretical work of Johnson, Kendall, and Roberts, Dejaguin, Muller, a nd Toporov, and Maugis and Pollock, augmented by systematic experiment ation. This paper will review the current understanding of particle ad hesion and will illustrate effects of the particle-substrate interface using scanning electron micrographs.