Local bending moment as a measure of adhesion: the blister test

We propose to characterize joints between materials by the maximum bending moment, Mmax, borne just prior to delamination. We suggest to evaluate Mmax in the blister test geometry through direct measurement of the blister curvature in the vicinity of the separation line and employ a scanning capacitance microscope for the blister profiling. The methodology and apparatus were tested on measurements of adhesion of two commercial polymer films to Plexiglas and Teflon.