ON THE KINETICS OF PEELING OF AN ADHESIVE TAPE UNDER A CONSTANT IMPOSED LOAD

The peeling of an adhesive tape is studied when a constant applied loa d is clamped to its extremity. Three different regimes are observed, a s in the peeling at constant speed, previously studied (Maugis, D. and Barquins, M. in 'Adhesion 12' (Ed. K.W. Alien) Elsevier Applied Scien ce, London, 1988, pp. 205-222). If applied loads are small, the peelin g is stable and it increases at increasing load so that the strain ene rgy release rate varies as a power function of the peeling speed, as a lready found (Barquins, M., Khandani, B. and Maugis, D. C.R. Acad Sci. Paris. 1986, 303, 1517). When the applied load reaches a critical val ue, a velocity jump is observed whereas the peeling becomes jerky with emission of a characteristic noise. This phenomenon of self sustained oscillations (stick-slip) is well-known. When applied loads are high, the peeling regime is stable again, and the speed increases slowly at increasing load. The new phenomenon which is exhibited in this study is that during the jerky mode of peeling, the mean value of the peelin g speed remains constant whatever the applied load in a large range. M oreover, the stick-slip is characterized by simultaneous light-wave an d acoustic emissions which have been recorded. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien ce Limited.