Contact of Rigid Rough Surface Through Polymer Coating Layer

The article is devoted to the analysis of engineering approaches to determining the value of the indentation of a spherical and rough surface into a polymer layer. It is pointed out that in most cases, the classical solutions of contact problems for bodies with varying mechanical characteristics do not allow the applied results to be applied for practical purposes to provide the specified conditions for friction, wear, and tightness. It is shown that engineering methods of solving contact problems on the basis of simplifying hypotheses are more practical, for example, the representation of a layered body as a construction with special mechanical properties that depend on the mechanical properties of base and coating materials and the thickness of the coating. The analysis of the use of the proposed engineering solutions in calculating the value of the indentation of the sphere showed the advantages of the method based on the rigid model of a layered body. In this case, the effective modulus of elasticity and the Poisson’s ratio are determined for any values of the coating thickness for an axisymmetric loading of a layered half-space. To determine the value of the indentation of a rough surface into the polymer layer, a discrete model of a rough surface is used. When contacting a rough surface through a polymer layer, it was taken into account that each asperity corresponds to a certain modulus of elasticity which is determined by the level of the peak and the value of approach.