Scratch damage behaviors of PVDF/PMMA multilayered materials: Experiments and finite element modeling

In this work, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) alternating multilayered materials were fabricated. Firstly, the scratch damage behaviors of PVDF side was investigated experimentally. The results presented that the maximum of critical normal load of scratch damage (F-cr) was obtained by 32-layer material, which was 40% higher than that of pure PVDF and very close to that of pure PMMA. This indicated that the scratch resistance of PVDF could be significantly improved via multilayer assembly with PMMA. Furthermore, numerical modeling revealed that with the multiplication of layers, the decrease of tensile stress imposed on the first PVDF layer led to the delay of scratch damage, whereas the decrease of the distance between the first PMMA layer and the scratch tip promoted its early damage. Therefore, the optimum scratch performance was determined by the critical thickness of PVDF and PMMA layers, which was significant for designing scratch-resistant materials.