Scratch recovery is a desirable property of many polymer systems. The reason why some materials have demonstrated excellent scratch recovery while others do not has been a mystery. Explaining the scratch resistance based upon the hardness of a material or its crosslink density is incorrect. In this thesis, novel polymers were tested in an attempt to discover materials that show excellent scratch recovery - one of the most important parameters in determining the wear of a material. Several hypotheses were developed in an attempt to give an accurate picture of how the chemical structure of a polymer affects its scratch recovery. The results show that high scratch recovery is a complex phenomenon not solely dependent upon the presence of electronegative atoms such as fluorine.

The purpose of this thesis work was to carry out initial studies on Scania’s possibility to have plastic rearview mirror glasses as that for example may reduce costs and problems for Scania’s customers and enable another design of the mirror assembly. It was performed by studying the legislative and Scania demands regarding rearview mirrors to write a test program, find and order plastic mirrors, and then perform the tests and evaluate the mirrors to see if they seem good enough for Scania’s trucks. A Scania technical regulation for rearview mirror glass was also written.   The tested mirrors were a Scania glass mirror as reference, a PC mirror from Sabic, a PC and a PMMA mirror from Specchidea, a mirror from SMR automotive, an ABS mirror from Ficocipa/Renault, an ABS mirror from Ford and a PC plastic from Bayer and they were tested for scratch resistance, temperature variations, impact resistance, corrosion and chemical resistance in that order. If a sample did not pass a certain test, it was not subjected to the next one.   Of all samples it was only the SMR mirror and the reference glass mirror that passed the first test (scratch resistance). The others became too scratched and were not tested further. The SMR and the glass mirror also withstood all the following tests very good, the SMR mirror was the best one of the tested mirrors. Probably the SMR mirror was the best one because many of the other mirrors did not seem to have been made for outdoor conditions and because it seemed to be the most modern mirror with a good abrasion resistant coating.   It was concluded that there is a future for plastic mirror glasses, that it would be interesting to do more tests on the mirrors, for example a UV test and a distortion test, and to test more mirrors as a new generation of plastic mirror glass seem to be underway. It would also be interesting to know how much cheaper and lighter the whole mirror assembly can become by changing to plastic mirror glass, which weighs 68% less than a glass mirror.

A potential alternative to acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate+ABS (PC+ABS), pigmented mineral-filled polypropylene (PP) finds an opening in automotive interior components such as instrument panels, knee bolsters, consoles, etc. Because of the lack of surface aesthetics, pigmented mineral-filled PP is experiencing a limitation to its acceptance in many applications. This study focuses on exploring various mineral fillers and additives in polypropylene to provide a material with enhanced scratch resistance. Several physical properties including Rockwell and Shore D hardness are investigated, and it is determined that Filler W improves scratch resistance. It is also determined that Filler T-filled-PP has poor scratch resistance even with the addition of a lubricant.

In the present study the effects of addition of organically functionalized boehmite nano-particles on the mechanical properties of epoxy polymers were analyzed. Nanosize platelets of boehmite powders were produced via a hydrothermal process from the raw material aluminum trihydroxide Al(OH)3 provided by a a chemical supplier, but which in future studies can be replaced by local resources of aluminum trihydroxide available in Seydisehir, Turkey. The ground aluminum trihydroxide particles were submitted to a two-step preliminary ageing procedure in different pH media. Particles were then converted to boehmite nanoparticles via hydrothermal ageing at high pressure and temperature. The product&lsquo / s chemical identity, size, structure and morphology were characterized with XRD, FT-IR, SEM and PSA analyses. By controlling the pH and the ageing time as parameters, hexagonal shaped nanoplatelets were obtained with dimensions ranging from 100 to 500 nm. Aiming at using these nanoparticles into surface coating polymers, the most favorable shape is the plate-like morphology, leading to adopting the last hydrothermal condition in the rest of the study. v The boehmite crystal surfaces are furnished with hydroxyls which can potentially be reacted with epoxy monomers of bisphenol A diglycidyl ether with the help of tin (II) chloride as catalyst through ring-opening reactions. The FT-IR and quantitative analyses indicated that this surface functionalization is possible under a temperature 80 oC and a weight ratio of 5:1 epoxy monomer to boehmite powder These novel inorganic/organic hybrid materials were then mixed with epoxy/hardener resin mixture to obtain nanocomposites. The properties of the composites were characterized accordingly with tensile, impact, micro hardness, micro-scratch tests, DMA analysis and observed with SEM analysis. A deterioration of the tensile strength from the neat polymer was observed, with a distinct trend between the functionalized and non-functionalized boehmite-epoxy polymers. The functionalized polymers showed a less deteriorative character. The tensile modulus instead showed a little improvement of (4%) in 5wt% loaded polymers. DMA analysis results revealed an improved glass transition temperature in the nanocomposites as well as in storage and loss modulus. As aimed in this work, the functionalized boehmite-epoxy polymers displayed a clear improvement in comparison to both non-functionalized and neat polymers in surface coating properties in hardness and scratch resistance.

A new scratch test methodology is proposed. The new test methodology is developed based on the principles of materials science and solid mechanics, which include the consideration of material parameters, use of microscopy for image analysis and the finite element method (FEM). The consistency and reproducibility of test results are shown using a new scratch test device on two sets of neat and talcfilled polypropylene (PP) systems. Three different test conditions, i.e., linear load increase under constant rate, constant load under constant rate, and linear rate increase under constant load, have been conducted to determine the most effective, informative test conditions for evaluation of scratch resistance of polymers. Experimental observations and FEM results show a good qualitative correlation. The unique advantages of the new scratch test method for evaluating scratch resistance of polymers are discussed. A systematic study of surface damage effected by a progressive scratching load is performed on model polypropylene (PP) systems. Mar-scratch and stress -whitening transitions can be readily observed, and the corresponding critical loads determined. Distinctive scratch hardnesses and surface damage features are found for different material systems. Visibility of scratched surface is quantified using gray level analysis via a flatbed scanner and a commercial image analysis tool. It is found that the onset of scratch visibility can be determined accurately and reproducibly using the custom -built scratcher under progressive loading condition. Talc particles are found to be responsible for the increased light scattering, leading to greatly increased visibility. The observed scratch visibility is also found to be related to the measured frictional force profiles. Approaches for producing scratch resistant PP are discussed.