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Effect of storage in aqueous environments on polymer–metal interfacial fracture
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 March 2011
Abstract
The effect of environmental exposure on the fracture characteristics of two polymer–metal interfaces was measured using a four-point bend delamination test. Films of high-molecular-weight polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) resin were spin-cast on metal-coated silicon wafer substrates, for which the metal was either titanium or aluminum. Sandwich beam specimens were fabricated and stored in one of the following conditions prior to the bending tests: vacuum desiccator at 25 °C, vacuum desiccator at 65 °C, distilled water at 25 °C, or distilled water at 65 °C. Load–displacement behavior measured during bending revealed significant differences between the delamination characteristics of the two PMMA–metal interfaces after vacuum exposure which were eliminated after the degrading effects of water exposure. Three distinctive load–displacement behaviors were observed: plateau, fracture at a single load; R-curve, fracture at increasing load with crack extension; and stick-slip, cycles of gradual load increase and sudden load drop with crack extension. PMMA–Al samples stored in vacuum desiccator at 25 °C exhibited R-curve fracture and the largest average crack driving force, GC, 12.2 (±0.5) J/m2, of all samples tested. After storage in 25 °C water, these PMMA–Al samples exhibited stick-slip fracture and GC decreased to 7.1 (±2.6) J/m2; storage in 65 °C water further decreased GC to 2.1 (±0.7) J/m2. PMMA–Ti samples exhibited stick-slip fracture after storage in vacuum desiccator at 25 °C, with an average GC of 8.0 (±2.6) J/m2; storage in 65 °C water resulted in a transition to plateau fracture and a decrease in GC to 1.6 (±0.3) J/m2. The initial difference and subsequent similarity are interpreted in terms of surface roughness and hydrolysis, respectively.
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