Adhesion of Polymer Coatings: Principles and Evaluation

Adhesion of polymer coatings to a metal, polymer, or glass substrate is one of the main characteristics that affect the protective, decorative, and other properties of coatings. In different fields of applications, the challenges of protecting devices and constructions, while providing special functions, promote a growing interest in investigation and evaluation of coating adhesion. This leads to the development of new approaches for its enhancement. Different mechanisms of adhesion, including chemical bonding and physical adsorption, mechanical interlocking, and others, are considered in this chapter. Adhesion is influenced by the nature of the polymer material and the substrate surface properties, film thickness, internal stress, as well as by the conditions of the coating application and service. The approaches to enhancement of adhesion of polymer coatings to a substrate are demonstrated in this chapter. For coatings with different functions, including novel intelligent coatings, a reliable evaluation of adhesion is one of the key factors that affect the strategies for its improvement and the coating’s overall performance. The chapter provides an overview of the approaches to the destructive and nondestructive characterization of adhesion, from the traditional methods that are common in research and industry to less common intelligent techniques. The main challenges, strengths, and weaknesses, related to evaluation of adhesion, are communicated in this chapter.