Computational modeling of impact failure of polymer coatings

Automotive coatings are typically a multi-layered polymer composite structure, whose impact resistance are closely related to the appearance, body corrosion and safety of a vehicle. Currently, it still remains a challenging task to accurately simulate the impact failure behavior of polymer coatings. In light of this, we propose a novel computational framework to address this issue. The main appeal of our presented method is that it can account for both of the two main failure patterns, i.e., polymer-ply and interlaminar failure, of polymer coatings. Towards this end, a multi-mechanism damage model is employed to describe the brittle and ductile damage of polymer ply, and a large deformation cohesive zone model is developed to simulate interlaminar delamination. With the help of the proposed method, we simulate the impact failure behavior of a single-layered polymer coating. The effectiveness of the novel method is validated by comparing numerical results with experimental observations in terms of failure patterns. Numerical results show that polymer ply failure includes both brittle and ductile damage, and the failure mechanisms of polymer ply have been numerically revealed. Finally, the effects of interfacial properties and coating damage parameters on impact failure of the polymer coating are numerically investigated.

Automated summary

This study proposes a novel computational framework to accurately simulate the impact failure behavior of polymer coatings. The proposed method can account for both polymer-ply and interlaminar failure patterns. Numerical results reveal that polymer ply failure includes both brittle and ductile damage. The effects of interfacial properties and coating damage parameters on impact failure of polymer coatings are also investigated.