A comparison of energy release rates in different membrane blister and peel tests

The relationship between energy release rates and coating stresses in various coating adhesion fracture tests is investigated. In spite of the apparent difference in test geometries and loading conditions, an equivalent peel test can be found for each of the membrane peeling tests examined in this paper. The results suggest that these tests and other membrane peeling tests are special cases of the peel test if examined near the debond front. In addition to clarifying the relationship between peel tests and other membrane peeling tests, the limitations of all possible membrane peeling test geometries with coatings having a tensile prestress are investigated through the study of the fracture efficiency parameter for the most general coating peeling problem. The results suggest that developing high fracture efficiency tests for coating adhesion measurement seems unlikely.