Determination of the bond strength of some microns coatings using the laser shock technique

High power laser shocks with a 0.6 ns pulse duration have been used to stud y the debonding of coatings electrolytically deposited on the opposite face of the substrate than the one shocked. Experiments have been carried out o n various substrate/coating systems such as stainless steel/copper or nicke l and hastelloy X/platinum. Experimentally, a lower intensity debonding thr eshold has been determined for earth of these systems. On the other hand, a n upper threshold above which a systematic removal of the coating is obtain ed has been evidenced. By the numerical simulation of these experiments, a traction range for debonding at the interface has been determined for the t hree systems. A significant difference for the adhesion levels of these sys tems has been evidenced using this method. Thus, the possibility to use the laser shock technique as a non destructive adhesion test for coatings of s ome tens microns is clearly demonstrated.