Abstract
Recent variational mechanics analysis of composite microcracking [J. A. Nairn, J. compos. Mater. 23, 1106 (1989)] has been modified to predict the onset and propagation of multiple cracking in brittle coatings. In the modified analysis, we derived an expression for the total energy released due to the formation of a new crack across the entire cross-section of the coating. Under the assumption that the next coating crack will occur when the energy released on forming that crack reaches the critical energy release rate of the coating (the coating fracture toughness), the new analysis can be used to predict the strain required to form the first coating crack and to predict the coating crack density as a function of increasing applied strain. The predictions were compared to literature results on brittle stress analysis coatings and to experimental results on poly(methyl methacrylate) coatings applied to General Electric Lexan ® polycarbonate substrates. The agreement between theory and experiment was good.
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