Artificial nails have become increasingly popular, particularly among younger consumers, as a fast and affordable alternative to traditional manicures. Most artificial nails are manufactured from ABS plastic and attached to the natural nail using a range of adhesive systems, including acrylate-based adhesive tabs, cyanoacrylate glues, and UV-curable methacrylate systems. These attachment methods differ significantly in application requirements, adhesion strength, wear duration, and ease of removal, directly impacting product performance and nail health.

As artificial nail systems evolve, there is a growing need for objective methods to evaluate adhesive performance under realistic use conditions. Key aspects include maintaining secure attachment over extended wear while allowing removal without damaging the natural nail surface. Currently, adhesion is often assessed using simplified tests that may lack the rigor and repeatability needed to support performance claims.

In other application areas, such as medical wearables and ostomy devices, instrumental adhesion testing is used to assess long-term wear under stress. These approaches typically combine standardized mechanical tests, such as peel and shear measurements, with wear simulations and post-removal substrate assessments. Adapting and validating similar methodologies for fingernail keratin presents an opportunity to establish more reliable evaluation of artificial nail adhesion systems.