Estimation of mesoscale surface energy in the kinetic adhesion test

The Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) contact model is widely accepted for the elastic adhesive contacts of particles. In this work, we present a novel interpretation of the JKR model that allows for the development of a test procedure with practical hardware called the Kinetic Adhesion Test. The Kinetic Adhesion Test is based on the balance between kinetic and adhesive energy and allows for the determination of the mesoscale adhesive energy, Γ. The work not only presents the test procedure but also provides a derivation of the formula to determine Γ. This test procedure has been validated by experimental results compared with direct measurement of the contact radius. Overall, the presented work provides a practical approach for determining adhesive energy, which is an essential factor in accurately simulating powder behaviour using DEM. This work contributes to the advancement of the accuracy of DEM simulations and, therefore, to the improvement of research in multiple fields, including materials science, engineering, and pharmaceuticals. [Display omitted] •Derivation of the formula relating adhesive energy with kinetic energy during detachment.•Description of the Kinetic Adhesion Test (KAT) procedure.•Experimental validation of the proposed technique.•DEM validation of KAT results using the JKR contact law.