Adhesive contacts of a rigid sphere and an elastic–perfectly plastic half-space

This paper presents a study on the adhesive contact of a rigid sphere with an elastic–perfectly plastic half-space. Analytical solutions for contact force and contact radius relation, contact force and contact displacement relation during both loading and unloading are derived. From the present solutions the plastic pull-off force can be calculated analytically. The present study shows that the plastic pull-off force calculated with considering the variation of curvature within the contacted surface is higher than that calculated based on a constant curvature taken at the contact centre, and specially if the contact radius is calculated based on the Hertzian solution for elastic contacts then the obtained plastic pull-off force will be less than a half of the present plastic pull-off force.