This article summarizes, reviews and consolidates some of the research work
done by the authors over recent years. It covers a wide variety of topics
related to the experimental and analytical investigations of the impact of
microparticles with flat surfaces in the presence of adhesion and frictiona
l Forces. Over 180 experiments were conducted under vacuum conditions to st
udy the effects of particle size, shape. incident translational and rotatio
nal velocities. and substrate surface roughness on the oblique impact respo
nse of the particle. Analytical models of the impact process were developed
, including an algebraic. rigid-body model and a numerical simulation that
can be used to predict rebound and capture conditions and to model the forc
es and displacements that occur during the contact duration. These models w
ere validated using experimental results. Overall. the article covers impac
t conditions ranging from the more idealized case of a microsphere impactin
g a molecularly-smooth surface to the more realistic and complex situation
of a biological microparticle impacting a typical indoor-room surface.