Title: interfacial adhesion
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - interfacial adhesion
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.IT07253
Status: current

Definition
Adhesion in which interfaces between phases or components are maintained by intermolecular forces, chain entanglements, or both, across the interfaces.

Notes
1) Interfacial adhesion is also referred to as tack.
2) Adhesive strength (recommended symbol: \(F_{\rm{a}}\), unit: \(\rm{N m}^{-2}\)) is the force required to separate one condensed phase domain from another at the interface between the two phase domains divided by the area of the interface.
3) Interfacial tension (recommended symbol: \(\gamma\), unit: \(\rm{N m}^{-1}\), \(\pu{J m-2}\)) is the change in Gibbs energy per unit change in interfacial area for substances in physical contact.
4) Use of the term interfacial energy for interfacial tension is not recommended.

Related Terms
- interface: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/I03082
- interfacial tension: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/I03088
- intermolecular: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/I03098
- phase domain: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/PT07286

Source
- PAC, 2004, 76, 1985. 'Definition of terms related to polymer blends, composites, and multiphase polymeric materials (IUPAC Recommendations 2004)' on page 1992 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac200476111985)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/IT07253/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/IT07253/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/IT07253/xml

Citation: Citation: 'interfacial adhesion' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.IT07253
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Accessed: 2025-12-06T10:13:36+00:00