Strain and Stress Fields During Scratch Tests on Amorphous Polymers: Influence of the Local Friction

In this paper, we present results deduced from three-dimensional finite element simulations of scratching, with spherical indenter geometry at different imposed ratios, a/R in the range of 0.1–0.9. For each simulated ratio a/R, the local friction has been increased from 0 to 1. The paper aims at studying the tangential scratch behaviour of homogeneous polymeric substrates, considered in first approximation as elastic linear-hardening plastic material. For only elastic–plastic contacts, without any strain rate or temperature effects, it focuses on studying some characteristic response due to spherical scratching process as a function of scratching conditions (a/R, μ _loc ) such as the stress and plastic strain fields, including the plastic zone dimension and the definition of an volume average plastic strain.