The tip applied force necessary to obtain tip/substrate contact, i.e., rupture force between adsorbed layers of self-assembled surfactant films and atomic force microscope (AFM) tips in water has been measured. A substantial contribution of this rupture force is due to the dielectric exchange force (DEF). The DEF model is in agreement with the observation that the surfactant layer rupture forces are smaller in the thickest layers, where the compactness of the adsorbed film results in the smallest values of the dielectric permittivity. Within experimental accuracy a dielectric permittivity value of similar to4 for bilayers and of similar to 36 for monolayers is found. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.34441795429433