Stick-slip process occurred during the scratch test of styrene-acrylon
itrile copolymer, For the first time, a bamboo-like morphology of the
scratch track corresponding to the stick-slip phenomenon was observed.
A ''joint'' was formed during the stick stage and during slip a unifo
rm ''stem'' was made, The period and amplitude of the stick-slip both
increase with the vertical load and decrease with the driving speed. A
theoretical model is constructed based on the stiffness of the system
and the plastic deformation of polymer both in the vertical and horiz
ontal directions. The model assumes no distinction between the coeffic
ients of static and kinetic friction and gives quantitatively consiste
nt results with experiments.