title: Peeling off an elastica from a smooth attractive substrate.
abstract: Using continuum mechanics, we study theoretically the unbinding of an inextensible rod with free ends attracted by a smooth substrate and submitted to a vertical force. We use the elastica model in a medium-range van der Waals potential. We numerically solve a nonlinear boundary value problem and obtain the force-stretching relation at zero temperature. We obtain the critical force for which the rod unbinds from the substrate as a function of three dimensionless parameters, and we find two different regimes of adhesion. We study analytically the contact potential case as the van der Waals radius goes to zero.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche sur les Phénomènes Hors Equilibre, UMR 6594, CNRS, Université d'Aix-Marseille, France. oyharcabal@irphe.univ-mrs.fr
authors.forename: Xabier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Oyharcabal
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Frisch