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Mechanical Modeling of Scratch Behavior of Polymeric Coatings on Hard and Soft Substrates

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Abstract

An ASTM standard scratch test is utilized to study the scratch behavior of polymeric coatings on soft and hard substrates. Depending on the different combination of polymeric coatings and substrates utilized, various damage modes can take place, which include coating delamination, transverse cracking, and buckling failure. A soft coating on a hard substrate will give rise to an entirely different scratch damage pattern from those of a hard coating on a soft substrate. The stress and strain responses of scratch on polymeric coating are analyzed using three-dimensional finite element (FE) simulation. The analysis provides mechanistic insights for the observed polymer coating deformation mechanisms and failure modes. Usefulness of the ASTM scratch method and FE modeling to evaluate polymer coating scratch behavior is discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the financial support and valuable insights provided by the Texas A&M Scratch Behavior Consortium members (Advanced Composites, Atlas-MTS, Braskem, Cabot, Ciba Specialty Chemical, Clorox, Dow Chemical, Japan Polypropylene, Kaneka, Rio Tinto, Phillips-Sumika, Solvay Engineered Polymers, Sumitomo Chemical, Surface Machine Systems, and Visteon) in this research endeavor. The authors would also like to acknowledge partial financial support of the Department of Transportation (DTPH56-06-T-000022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polymer Technology Center, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-3123, USA

    Han Jiang, R. Browning & H.-J. Sue

  2. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-3123, USA

    J. D. Whitcomb

  3. Japan Polypropylene Corp., Products Technical Center One, Yokkaichi, Mie, 510-0848, Japan

    M. Ito & M. Shimouse

  4. PolyLab LLC, Houston, TX, 77042, USA

    T. A. Chang

Authors
  1. Han Jiang
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  2. R. Browning
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  3. J. D. Whitcomb
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  4. M. Ito
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  5. M. Shimouse
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  6. T. A. Chang
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  7. H.-J. Sue
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Correspondence to H.-J. Sue.

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Jiang, H., Browning, R., Whitcomb, J.D. et al. Mechanical Modeling of Scratch Behavior of Polymeric Coatings on Hard and Soft Substrates. Tribol Lett 37, 159–167 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-009-9505-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-009-9505-8

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