Regular to chaotic transition of stick-slip motion in sliding friction of an adhesive gel-sheet

Spatio-temporal pattern of the stick-slip motion of a gel-sheet pulled on a glass substrate is observed. The sliding takes place via the propagation of the wave of detachment (Schallamach wave). At large pull velocity, the detached region is a stripe which moves regularly with constant speed and the frictional force shows a periodic time dependence. As the pull velocity is decreased, the detached region is separated into bubbles which move around irregularly. In the irregular state, the frictional force shows chaotic time dependence and the statistics of the event of the force drop obeys a power law similar to the Gutenberg-Richter law known in earthquakes. In the regular region, the detachment wave is analyzed theoretically and the velocity and lengths are obtained as a function of the pull velocity. The transition from the regular to chaotic behavior is shown to be related to the spontaneous wetting of the gel.