A modified scratch test for the mechanical characterization of scratch resistance and adhesion of thin hard coatings on soft substrates

Abstract

The scratch resistance of coatings and the adhesion between coating and substrate are usually determined in model experiments performed with sharp diamond indenters. These common methods as described for example in EN 1071-3 often fail for the combination of hard coatings on soft substrates due to very small critical loads or no detectable failure modes at all. Hence in the industry a lot of highly subjective and provisional test methods are used. On the one hand, quantitative comparability is difficult with common methods since defects already occur at very small loads for ductile and relative soft substrate materials like plastics. On the other hand, wear of the indenter in contact with hard coatings like pure diamond coatings requires its cost-intensive replacement.In this article a macroscopic tribological–mechanical test method is suggested which uses balls of hardened steel as indenters. A wide scope can be applied for both soft and hard coatings and different substrate materials. By variation of the ball-diameter, the normal contact force and the sliding speed different levels of stress and wear can be induced to analyze the tribological and mechanical behavior between body and counterpart as well as the interface of coating and substrate. To determine scratch resistance close to reality as usual scratch conditions on consumer products are better represented by a small ball than a sharp diamond indenter. Another benefit of the presented test method is the cost saving acquisition of the balls for indentation in very high quality as they are standard parts in the ball bearing industry. For every test on very hard coatings a new ball can be used with the possibility to detect the wear both on the base object and the counterpart. The occurring failure modes of coating and substrate also can be compared with comparatively easy numerical models to verify the results. Additionally to the test concept, first results of different coatings will be presented in this paper and compared with the results of common scratch tests.