Abstract
The blister test geometry commonly used for the measurement of interfacial work of adhesion W has been re-examined and new fracture mechanics analyses are given for thin flexible membranes on rigid substrates in which the stretching deformations are predominant. Two loading configurations are considered. (1) The blister is pressurized under an internal expansion of a fixed mass of working gas. Here stable crack propagation and multiple measurements per specimen are allowed. (2) The blister is loaded by a shaft at its apex, which also gives stable interface crack propagation. The fracture mechanics analyses are verified with simple experiments using sticky tapes on an aluminium plate based on these two test methods. Additional shaft-loaded blister experiments of nylon 6 films on surface treated aluminium substrates have also been studied and compared to the double cantilever geometry.
