PARTICLE ADHESION TO ELASTOMERIC SUBSTRATES AND ELASTOMERIC SUBSTRATES WITH SEMIRIGID COATINGS

The force needed to remove micrometer-size polystyrene particles from elastomeric substrates having Young's moduli of 3.8 and 320 MPa was me asured using atomic force techniques. It was found that the removal fo rce was approximately an order of magnitude less for the more rigid su bstrate than for the more compliant substrate. In both cases the remov al force was independent of applied load. However, when the more compl iant material was overcoated with the stiffer material, the particle r emoval force was found to increase with increasing pressure, with the limit at low pressure commensurate with the removal force observed for the stiffer substrate and commensurate with the more compliant materi al at higher pressures. The results are interpreted in terms of the pe netration depth of particle asperities into the substrates.