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Opposite moving detachment waves mediate stick-slip friction at soft interfaces

Intermittent motion, called stick--slip, is a friction instability that commonly occurs during relative sliding of two elastic solids. In adhesive polymer contacts, where elasticity and interface adhesion are strongly coupled, stick--slip results from the propagation of slow detachment waves at the interface. Using \emph{in situ} imaging experiments at an adhesive contact, we show the occurrence of two distinct detachment waves moving parallel (Schallamach wave) and anti-parallel (separation wave) to the applied remote sliding. Both waves cause slip in the same direction and travel at speeds much lesser than any elastic wave speed. We use an elastodynamic framework to describe the propagation of these slow detachment waves at an elastic-rigid interface and obtain governing integral equations in the low wave speed limit. These integral equations are solved in closed form when the elastic solid is incompressible. Two solution branches emerge, corresponding to opposite moving detachment waves, just as seen in the experiments. A numerical scheme is used to obtain interface stresses and velocities for the incompressible case for arbitrary Poisson ratio. Based on these results, we explicitly demonstrate a correspondence between propagating slow detachment waves and a static bi-material interface crack. Based on this, and coupled with a recently proposed fracture analogy for dynamic friction, we develop a phase diagram showing domains of possible occurrence of stick--slip via detachment waves vis-á-vis steady interface sliding.