Determination of adhesion forces between smooth and structured solids

Surfaces tend to be made smoother in order to gain flatness or in order to fulfill the need for more precise and reproducible positioning of parts. Adhesion or even sticking of the surfaces is a major showstopper for these applications. There are several measures that can be taken in order to reduce spontaneous adhesion. Quantification of the effectiveness of the chosen solution is most often done using an atomic force microscope (AFM) with probes varying from 1 nm to 8 μm of contact diameter. A serious disadvantage in measuring adhesion by sharp tips is the wear of the tips. Sharp tips wear easily, resulting in undefined contact areas. When the real area of contact is not well defined, the quantification of the adhesion force is not significant. In the current study results of AFM measurements from literature with different tip diameters of colloidal probes are compared with AFM cantilevers with a plateau tip and using probes from large spheres using an alternative setup in combination with a Universal Nano-mechanical Analyzer (UNAT). Test results are shown. Another part of the study deals with a deliberately roughening of smooth surfaces to minimize (spontaneous) adhesion. Good agreement has been found with existing results.