Editing Adhesion (section)

===Stringing===
[[File:Fingering.jpg|thumb|Fingering process. The hatched area is the receiving substrate, the dotted strip is the tape, and the shaded area in between is the adhesive chemical layer. The arrow indicates the direction of propagation for the fracture.]]

[[Stringing]] is perhaps the most crucial of these effects, and is often seen on adhesive tapes. Stringing occurs when a separation of two surfaces is beginning and molecules at the interface bridge out across the gap, rather than cracking like the interface itself. The most significant consequence of this effect is the restraint of the crack. By providing the otherwise brittle interfacial bonds with some flexibility, the molecules that are stringing across the gap can stop the crack from propagating.<ref name=Kendall/> Another way to understand this phenomenon is by comparing it to the [[stress concentration]] at the point of failure mentioned earlier. Since the stress is now spread out over some area, the stress at any given point has less of a chance of overwhelming the total adhesive force between the surfaces. If failure does occur at an interface containing a [[viscoelastic]] adhesive agent, and a crack does propagate, it happens by a gradual process called "fingering", rather than a rapid, brittle fracture.<ref name=Newby/>
Stringing can apply to both the diffusive bonding regime and the chemical bonding regime. The strings of molecules bridging across the gap would either be the molecules that had earlier diffused across the interface or the viscoelastic adhesive, provided that there was a significant volume of it at the interface.