Shear-Induced Anisotropy in Rough Elastomer Contact

True contact between randomly rough solids consists of myriad individual micro-junctions. While their total area controls the adhesive friction force of the interface, other macroscopic features, including viscoelastic friction, wear, stiffness and electric resistance, also strongly depend on the size and shape of individual micro-junctions. Here we show that, in rough elastomer contacts, the shape of micro-junctions significantly varies as a...