Modern State of Models for Fundamental Adhesion - A Review Extended Abstract

Advanced adhesive technologies and demanding applications of adhesive joints can no longer be developed successfully by the traditional "trial and error" approach. Appropriate technical solutions require reference to a reliable basis of well-established scientific knowledge about the elementary mechanisms of adhesion (i.e. the 'fundamental adhesion') as they are responsible for the capability of the compound w transmit mechanical force between the adhesive and the substrate surface (i.e. the 'practical adhesion'). Adhesion mechanisms also influence the formation of polymer structure in the adhesive and the resulting macromolecular dynamics in the interphase that is formed in the adhesive near to the substrate. These manifold molecular factors rule the macroscopic behaviour of an adhesive bond line in terms of mechanical and other physical properties as well as in terms of durability. This paper reviews the level of refinement that understanding of fundamental adhesion has achieved up to now.