Theoretical study on shaft-loaded blister test technique: Synchronous characterization of surface and interfacial mechanical properties

In this paper, the existing shaft-loaded blister test technique was improved and a theoretical study on synchronous characterization of mechanical properties of coating thin-film and film/substrate interface was presented. Problems considered include the exact analytical solution to the problem of axisymmetric deformation of a blistering film and the theoretical derivation of expressions to determine Poisson׳s ratios, Young׳s modulus, the work done by the applied external load, the elastic energy stored in a blistering film, and energy release rate. Some relative issues such as how to control the blistering film as free as possible from plastic yielding and the influence of changing the loading-shaft radius on the membrane stress distribution were discussed. Moreover, an experiment was conducted to verify the presented theoretical work.