Scratch and mar behavior of textured polymeric surfaces

Surface damages such as scratch and mar can significantly affect the aesthetics of polymeric surfaces. The study of scratch and mar behavior of polymers can be more challenging if the polymeric surfaces are textured. Scratch and mar can be easily viewed if the surface is smooth whereas surface texture may hide the scratches. Recently, putting texture on polymeric surfaces has shown to improve scratch visibility resistance; however, it exposes polymers to a new form of surface damages. The intention of this research is to examine the impact of putting textures on scratch and mar visibility of polymeric surfaces through analysis of the deformation, and development of stress-strain field during scratching. Three-dimensional finite element method (FEM) modeling using ABAQUS were performed to study the mechanism associated with the scratch and mar damages incurred in textured surfaces. Results suggest that, for a sharper tip, increase in surface roughness distributes the normal load over a smaller number of asperities that results in to the local plastic deformation and different texture pattern can easily mask these kinds of damage and improve scratch visibility resistance. However, when scratching is done with blunter tips, due to compressed ironing, texture surface gets smoother after scratching which makes scratches more visible