Interfacial Competitive Debonding of a Bilayer Elastic Film on a Rigid Substrate

Different from the system of a single-layer elastic film on a rigid substrate, the debonding interface is difficult to determine in a bilayer or multilayer film-substrate system. A peeling model of a bilayer elastic film on a rigid substrate is established in the present paper, in order to predict which interface debonding occurs first. The interfacial competitive debonding mechanism is theoretically analyzed with the help of the beam bending theory. A criterion of which interface debonding occurs first is proposed. It is found that the interfacial debonding path is mainly controlled by five dimensionless parameters, i.e., the strength ratio and the critical separation distance ratio of the upper and lower interfaces, the Young’s modulus ratio and the thickness ratio of the upper and lower films, and the possible initial cantilever length for ease of loading. The corresponding competitive debonding map is well obtained. From the map, which interface debonding occurs first can be easily predicted. It is interesting to find that the interfacial debonding path can be well tuned by any one of the five parameters. The results of the finite element calculation further confirm the theoretical predictions. The present work can not only provide a theoretical method to determine the interfacial debonding path but also be helpful for the optimal design of multilayer film-substrate systems in practical applications.