Long-Range Electrostatic Adhesive Contact Between an Elastic Half-Space and a Rigid Indenter With Power-Law Profile

In this study, the electrostatic adhesive contact between a smooth indenter with a power-law geometry and an elastic half-space is studied using both a theoretical and numerical approach. Both the indenter and substrate are coated with an electrically insulating layer. The Maxwell stress and hard-wall constraint are applied to describe the interaction between the indenter and elastic counter face. By assuming electrostatic adhesion as a long-range interaction, we derived a theoretical relation between external load and contact radius. We show that the theoretical and numerical results are plausible when the Tabor parameter is small. However, when the Tabor parameter is large, the numerical results get closer to the Johnson–Kendall–Roberts (JKR) limit. The generalized Tabor parameter, which depends on the applied voltage and indenter shape, has been derived by following the technique of dimensional analysis.