Controlled Propagation and Jamming of a Delamination Front

TL;DR

This paper investigates the controlled initiation and arrest of delamination fronts in soft adhesive layers, combining experiments, numerical analysis, and scaling to understand and manipulate jamming phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a quantitative framework for describing delamination front behavior and proposes methods to delay or prevent jamming through interface property tuning.

Findings

Jamming occurs due to lobes' self-contact during delamination.

Material and interface properties significantly influence jamming behavior.

Tunable interface properties can delay or prevent jamming.

Abstract

We study the birth and propagation of a delamination front in the peeling of a soft, weakly adhesive layer. In a controlled-displacement setting, the layer partially detaches via a subcritical instability and the motion continues until arrested, by jamming of the two lobes. Using numerical solutions and scaling analysis, we quantitatively describe the equilibrium shapes and obtain constitutive sensitivities of jamming process to material and interface properties. We conclude with a way to delay or avoid jamming altogether by tunable interface properties.