SPALLATION OF THIN ELASTIC COATINGS FROM ELASTIC SUBSTRATES BY LASER-INDUCED PRESSURE PULSES

The laser pulse induced spallation technique has been used in recent y ears to successfully measure the tensile strength of interfaces betwee n coatings of micron thickness and substrates in nondispersive and non dissipative bimaterial systems of interest in composites with strong b ut brittle components. In previously reported measurements a one-dimen sional wave propagation solution was used to evaluate the measurements . In the present article the results of a three-dimensional analytic s olution are presented, which demonstrate the range of validity of a on e-dimensional analysis, that remains convenient for the evaluation of experimental results. The present development demonstrates that all th e interface strength measurements reported earlier by V. Gupta et al. [J. Mech. Phys. Solids 40, 141 (1992)], obtained by the previous one-d imensional analysis remain unaffected. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.