Do uniform tangential interfacial stresses enhance adhesion?

We present theoretical arguments, based on linear elasticity and thermodynamics, to show that interfacial tangential stresses in sliding adhesive soft contacts may lead to a significant increase of the effective energy of adhesion. A sizable expansion of the contact area is predicted in conditions corresponding to such scenario. These results are easily explained and are valid under the assumptions that: (i) sliding at the interface does not lead to any loss of adhesive interaction and (ii) spatial fluctuations of frictional stresses can be considered negligible. Our results are seemingly supported by existing experiments, and show that frictional stresses may lead to an increase of the effective energy of adhesion depending on which conditions are established at the interface of contacting bodies in the presence of adhesive forces. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.