Finite Element Analysis of Adhesive Contact Behaviors in Elastoplastic and Viscoelastic Media

This paper developed a finite element model based on the Derjaguin approximation and the Lennard–Jones potential to describe a single loading-remaining-unloading cycle of adhesive contact in elastoplastic and viscoelastic media. The effects of tangent modulus, the Prony coefficient, and the times on the adhesive contact behaviors were examined. Some complicated phenomena on rate-dependent adhesion in viscoelastic media and history-dependent adhesion in elastoplastic media were understood. The simulation results showed that both the pull-off force and final central gap were negatively correlated with tangent modulus while positively with the Prony coefficient; the pull-off force and the final central gap synchronously rose as the loading time or the remaining time increased; the effect of the remaining time on the pull-off force is stronger than the loading time.