Energy based model to assess interfacial adhesion using a scratch test

A common way to improve the scratch resistance of a sensitive surface is to coat it with a thin film. However, the substrate/thin film adhesion must be well controlled and measurable. The contribution of the present work is to propose a global energy balance model of the blistering process for the scratching of a substrate/thin film system, which permits one to determine the adhesion of the system. The adhesion can be measured by following the delaminated area as a function of the scratching distance during blistering. The particular case of an experimental stable blistering process was studied and the corresponding substrate/thin film adhesion was derived using the global energy balance model.