I have developed a theory of adhesion between an elastic solid and a hard randomly rough substrate. The theory takes into account the fact that partial contact may occur between the solids on all length scales. I present numerical results for the case where the substrate surface is self-affine fractal. When the fractal dimension is close to 2, complete contact typically occurs in the macroasperity contact areas. For a fractal dimension larger than 2.5, the area of (apparent) contact decreases continuously when the magnification is increased.

• Received 5 April 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.245502