The determination of bond strength of polymeric films by indentation debonding

Abstract

The underlying theory for determining the bond strength between a thin flexible film and a rigid substrate by means of a conical indenter has been reanalyzed. Graphs of normalized bond strength vs. ratio of the radii of the annular debonded area have been obtained whereby the former may be obtained from an experimental determination of the latter. Experimental results were obtained by indenting polyimide films of various thicknesses on a silicon substrate and for several curing temperatures. Numerical values of the bond strength were then found from the analysis.