The effect of flexible substrates on pressure-sensitive adhesive performance

Abstract The adhesive fracture energy (fracture toughness) of tapes during globally elastic unpeeling is often calculated from the relation “ G=P/b(1− cos θ) ”. We show that while this expression is correct for elastic peeling from rigid substrates, it gives misleading results when peeling from reversible flexible substrates. A two-dimensional analysis is presented for peeling from non-linear elastic substrates that give consistent fracture energies from experimental data.