Confined thin film delamination in the presence of intersurface forces with finite range and magnitude

A circular membrane clamped at the periphery is allowed to adhere to or to delaminate from a planar surface of a cylindrical punch in the presence of intersurface forces with finite range and magnitude. Assuming a uniform disjoining pressure within the cohesive zone at the delamination front, the adhesion-delamination mechanics is obtained by a thermodynamic energy balance. Interrelations between the instantaneous applied load, punch displacement, and contact circle, and the resulting critical thresholds of 'pinch-off,' 'pull-off' and 'pull-in' are derived from the first principles. Two limiting cases are obtained: (i) intersurface force with long range and small magnitude in reminiscence of the classical Derjaguin--Muller--Toporov (DMT) model and (ii) short range and large magnitude alluding to the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) model. The DMT-JKR transitional behavior has significant impacts on adhesion measurements, microelectromechanical systems, and life-sciences. [DOI: 10.1115/1.3112745] Keywords: thin film adhesion, delamination, surface force, disjoining pressure, cohesive zone