Adhesion measurements inclined plane

Rolling ball. A small steel ball with specific weight and diameter is rolled down an inclined plane onto a thin film of adhesive placed at the bottom. The distance the ball rolls on the adhesive film before stopping is a measure of the tack (the longer the distance, the lower the tack). 

The classic test for tack of a pressure-sensitive adhesive film is the rolling ball tack test. Here a ball is rolled down an inclined plane onto a film of the adhesive. The length the ball travels across the film before stopping is a measure of the tack of the film. This test gives a good indication of tack with elastomer adhesives but is unreliable with water-based systems. 

Another very important frictional behavior at much lower contact forces measures fiber-fiber interactions associated with hair body and style retention. Robbins (47) discusses a method for determining dry static friction at low load (—1 mg) by using a modification of the incline plane fiber loop method of Howell and Mazur (48). In this procedure, the angle of slip is measured at which a small hair loop sitting on two parallel hair fibers begins to slide. At these low-contact loads, the interaction between deposited films on the fiber surface and the adhesive properties between them becomes important. 

Rolling ball tack is a unique test method in which a small ball of specified weight and diameter is rolled down an incline plane onto an inverted test adhesive strip. The distance the ball rolls before stopping is an measure of the tack properties of the adhesive. 

For adhesive layers whose tack is not too low, the rolling ball tack method may be used [66]. In accordance with PSTC-6, a steel ball of defined diameter is rolled down an inclined plane at a certain tilt angle on to the adhesive test strip, as shown in Fig. 8-19. The distance traveled before the ball stops is a measure of the tack. 

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