ISOLATED CONTACT STRESS DEFORMATIONS OF POLYMERS - THE BASIS FOR INTERPRETING POLYMER TRIBOLOGY

This paper reviews the use of what are essentially extensions of the s cratch hardness method as a means of probing the surface mechanical pr operties of polymers for applications in tribology studies. There is a short history and a summary of more recent work. The various damage r egimes such as ironing, ploughing, brittle cracking and so on are intr oduced and the role of the important contact mechanical variables desc ribed. A number of 'scratch' or damage maps are provided to illustrate the types of material which may be derived and portrayed using this a pproach. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.