In-situ observation of temperature rise during scratch testing of poly (methylmethacrylate) and polycarbonate

In this work, an in-situ observation of temperature rise during the scratch test was performed for both brittle and ductile polymeric materials, i.e., poly (methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC). Significant temperature rise of the scratched polymer substrate has been observed for both PMMA and PC, though their scratch damage modes are quite different. Frictional heating is the main reason of the temperature rise under the low scratch normal load, while the plastic deformation and severe damage are responsible for the temperature rise under high load level. Since the DSC results clearly show that the microstructures of PMMA and PC are altered, the temperature rise during the scratch process has to be considered for the further investigation of polymer scratch.