Modelling the effect of temperature on crack onset strain of brittle coatings on polymer substrates

a r t i c l e i n f o The effect of temperature on the crack onset strain (COS) of brittle coatings on polymer substrates was investigated through a series of temperature-controlled tensile tests carried out in situ under an optical microscope. It was observed that the failure of such materials under tensile strain was strongly affected by temperature, but the exact behaviour was heavily dependent upon the type of material used. Below the glass transition temperature, T g , of the polymer substrate, an increase in temperature led to a decrease in crack onset strain. Above the T g , the substrate softening effects and corresponding shrinkage behaviour had a presiding role, leading to an increase in COS at elevated temperatures. The experimental COS data were modelled as a linear superposition of an intrinsic COS and the internal strain taking into consideration the respective influences of temperature dependent energy release rate for crack propagation and thermal expansion behaviour. Using adjustable values of the coefficient of thermal expansion and toughness of the coating, the model was found to accurately reproduce the change of COS with temperature of two different coatings on aromatic polyester substrates. The proposed approach enables, for any thin film composite with known material properties, the COS at any given temperature to be predicted. Brittle coatings such as inorganic gas-barrier layers, anti-corrosion layers and thin conductive coatings on flexible polymer substrates are finding ever increasing applications in diverse fields, from packaging and food applications [1] to optical components and flexible electronic and photovoltaic devices [2–4]. Mechanical integrity is an important consideration in the design, manufacture and operational life of such components. Often the processing of these composite films requires that the multilayer structures are subjected to thermo-mechanical loads, especially in the case of roll-to-roll processing. During such operations, there is a risk of damaging the brittle layers, thus reducing device performance. The cracking behaviour of brittle films on various substrates at ambient temperatures has been well studied from both theoretical and experimental approaches. Theoretical descriptions are detailed in the comprehensive work of Hutchinson and Suo [5] with further developments to describe the failure of thin films on polymer substrates (e.g. [6]). Experimentally, a large volume of work has been carried out on the failure behaviour of coating layers of a wide range of properties on a variety of substrates, mainly metallic [7–9] and polymeric [10–16]. The …