Scratch of PMMA

What is it about?

To determine the effect of thermal aging on the scratch behavior of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), this work studied the scratch tests of PMMA at different aging time with the linear progression of the normal load. It was shown that the critical normal load corresponding to the surface crack decreases with the increase of aging time. A good correlation was found between the surface crack-initiation strength of the aged PMMA and the critical normal load.

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Why is it important?

During PMMA's long-term service time, its mechanical properties will degrade especially when exposed to the high temperature environment. This work quantitatively tested the effect of thermal aging on the scratch performance of PMMA. The good correlation between the surface crack-initiation strength and the critical normal load helped to understand the scratch mechanism of PMMA, which hasn't been known fully well before.