Failure of Thin Films Under Low-Cycle Fatigue

Wood, J.D., Gauvin, C. , Young, C.R.T. , Taylor, A.C., Balint, D.S. and Charalambides, M.N. (2018) Failure of Thin Films Under Low-Cycle Fatigue. 22nd European Conference on Fracture - ECF22: Loading and Environment Effects on Structural Integrity, Belgrade, Serbia, 26-31 Aug 2018.

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Abstract

Thin films or coatings applied on a substrate are utilised in a variety of applications such as microelectronics, optical coatings and protective coverings. As a consequence of changing environment (thermal and/or hygroscopic mismatch) or mechanical loadings these coatings are exposed to low-cycle fatigue, which can result in surface cracking, channelling, damage of the substrate, delamination along the film-substrate interface, etc. The performance of the application is heavily dependent on the mechanical integrity of the film and how it responds to a given loading. It is therefore vitally important that the failure mechanisms of the films/coatings are investigated. A numerical study is presented in which the finite element method has been used to consider the initiation and propagation of cracks in thin films applied to a substrate under low-cycle fatigue loading. A cohesive zone model incorporating a fatigue damage parameter in the traction-separation law to account for cyclic loading has been developed to consider two failure mechanisms. These are (i) a through-thickness crack in the film, arresting on the film-substrate interface and (ii) delamination along the film-substrate interface. Exposing both models to the same load cycles enables the calculation of time to first crack and which type of crack is more readily grown in the film-substrate system. Examples of where the current work is being used includes cracking in: (i) 16–18th century panel paintings on wood exposed to cyclic changes in temperature and/or relative humidity and (ii) oil tanker water ballast tank coatings under thermal stress cycles.

Item Type:Conference or Workshop Item
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Gauvin, Dr Cecilia and Young, Professor Christina
Authors: Wood, J.D., Gauvin, C., Young, C.R.T., Taylor, A.C., Balint, D.S., and Charalambides, M.N.
College/School:College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art
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