Assessment of plastic failure of polymers due to surface scratches

This paper is concerned with the evaluation of plastic damage of polymeric substrate under surface scratch deformation. Employing a commercial finite element (FE) package ABAQUS, FE analysis was performed to study the permanent damage imposed by a spherical indenter as it traverses across the surface of a polypropylene (PP) substrate. As compared to the experimental data, the numerical results make reasonably accurate prediction on the onset of scratch damage. Also, the furnished solutions aid in elucidating the fracture phenomenon encountered and the possible damage initiation during scratch.

Assessment of plastic failure of polymers due to surface scratches Conference Paper