Re: Finite Element Solution to 1D Polymer Film Problem

I actually measure peel force over a combination of time and temperature to
obtain a 2D contour map of the heat activation of laminates to prints, which
is a similar problem to yours. I use Excel to plot peel vs time and peel vs
temperature,  then adjust the points in both dimensions until smooth curves
are produced. It is then easy to draw contour lines by hand on a 2D graph.
These show up the effects of film thickness (coat weight of thermoplastic
polymer) and additions of plasticizer, tackifier etc. Time and pressure are
assumed to be co-dependent, i.e. the higher the nip or bar pressure, the
less time is required to get the same bond strength. I use 18 psi and
contact times up to 4 minutes, but I'm interested im maximum adhesion,  and
peels start to level off around there. For such short contact times of 0.4
seconds, you need a fairly high pressure to get measureable peel forces,  I
would say.