Abstract

Thin sheets are adhered to substrates in a range of practical applications. Traditionally the delamination of these sheets is viewed as something to be avoided but in some microscopic applications it can actually prove useful. We consider two macroscopic examples of the delamination of thin sheets from sticky substrates. In the first example, motivated by ‘stretchable electronics’, delamination is induced by the compression of a soft substrate and gives rise to a series of blisters with a characteristic size. We study this characteristic size and consider the possible implications for stretchable electronics techniques. In the second example, we take a new look at a classical adhesion test – the ‘Blister test’. Using a thin liquid layer as an adhesive we find new delamination patterns that we characterize theoretically.