Reflections on and Extensions of the Fuller and Tabor Theory of Rough Surface Adhesion

Abstract

The classical Fuller and Tabor theory of rough surface adhesion is reviewed, and its limited applicability noted. New results using an extension of the JKR adhesion theory to include the effect of van der Waals adhesion forces are described. These show the influence of the Tabor parameter μ: moderate values of µ (µ<100) lead to increased forces during loading, and so are found to predict much lower hysteresis losses. A further extension is to replace the GW surface roughness model used by Fuller and Tabor by a model based on the Nayak model of a surface as a random field, as in the Bush, Gibson and Thomas (BGT) theory of non-adhesive contact. The results are qualitatively the same, and the differences may well be largely due to the necessary redefinition of the adhesion index using the rms profile curvature in place of the asperity radius of curvature used in the GW model.