Лако-красочные материалы — производство

Consider a definition of molecular adhesion which allows it to be distin­guished from all the other known forms of attractions between bodies: molecular adhesion is the force experienced when bodies make contact at the molecular level, with gaps near molecular dimensions.

This definition raises a number of questions which will be addressed in the following chapters. The obvious question relates to the origins and laws of molecular adhesion. How can one measure and interpret such phenomena? Clearly, molecular adhesion forces have the same origins as the forces of cohesion which hold solids and liquids together. These can be understood in terms of the heats of melting or evaporation, the elastic stiffnesses, or the chemical reactivities of materials, as described in Chapter 5.

A second question concerns the tools which we can use to observe molecular adhesion more directly. New methods, such as Atomic Force Microscopy and Computer Simulation, have emerged over the past 30 years to play a large part in our understanding of the effects, as covered in Chapters 5 and 6.

Finally there is the frontier of adhesion. The further our study of adhesion penetrates, the richer the mechanisms and the applications, as described from Chapter 7 onwards. Eventually we must ask in the final chapter “What is the future of molecular adhesion?”