The effect of adhesion on the mechanical behavior of polymer films with metallic coating

A regular breakdown of a thin platinum coating under the deformation of PET support was studied by electron microscopy, and the role of interfacial ad hesion in the processes of coating fragmentation was examined. The process of the exfoliation of the metallic coating from the polymer support was sho wn to be controlled by the energy balance related to the thermodynamic Grif fith criterion. The value of interfacial adhesion between the coating and t he support was estimated, and an important role of the interfacial surface energy in the processes of exfoliation of the coating from the support unde r the deformation of the polymer-rigid coating systems was established.