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Adhesion is the molecular attraction exerted between bodies in contact.

Five mechanisms have been proposed to explain why one material sticks to another:

Two materials may be mechanically interlocked. Sewing forms a large scale mechanical bond, Velcro forms one on a medium scale, and some textile adhesives form one at a small scale.

Two materials may form a compound at the join. The strongest joins are where atoms of the two materials swap (ionic bonding) or share (covalent bonding) outer electrons. A weaker bond is formed if oxygen, nitrogen or fluorine atoms of the two materials share a hydrogen nucleus (hydrogen bonding).

Also known as Adsorption. Two materials may be held together by van der Waals forces. A Van der Waals force is the attraction between two molecules that have positively and negatively charged ends. This positive and negative polarity may be a permanent property of a molecule (Keesom forces ) or universally occurs in molecules as the random movement of electrons within the molecules may result in a temporary concentration of electrons at one end (London forces).

Some conducting materials may pass electrons to form a difference in electrical charge at the join. This results in a structure similar to a capacitor and creates an attractive electrostatic force between the materials. The electrons are passed if one conducting material binds its electrons less strongly than the other.

Some materials may merge at the joint by diffusion. This may occur when the molecules of both materials are mobile and soluble in each other. This would be particularly effective with polymer chains where one end of the molecule diffuses into the other material. It is also the mechanism involved in sintering. When metal or ceramic powders are pressed together and heated, atoms diffuse from one particle to the next. This joins the particles into one. The driving force for this diffusion is typically the reduction in surface energy, though it could also be a reduction in the chemical potential.