Abstract
After certain periods of practical application, particulate reinforced polymer coated surfaces frequently contain many grooves due to a scratching contact with any abrasive counterparts. To characterize these scratch patterns a software package (SCRATCH) has been developed using digitized surface roughness data from a laser profilometer. The SCRATCH system identifies individual scratches by representing their locations (using a slicing technique) and specifies scalar parameters (such as the specific scratch area or mid-tangent of the bearing area curve). In this way, the magnitude of the scratch damage can be identified following an approximate technique. This is demonstrated here for wear grooves in a polymer coating system subjected to a particular scratch test. But the method can also be applied to other engineering surfaces, e.g., for wear evaluation of composite bearings, seals, and other sliding composite elements. (Author)