Effect of resin lamination on tensile strength characteristics of SUS304 stainless steel thin film

The objective of this study is to clarify the effect of resin lamination on the tensile strength characteristics of SUS304 stainless steel thin films. We conducted tensile and stepwise tensile tests using several types of specimens prepared with 20-μm- and 40-μm-thick SUS304 films, 25-μm-thick polypropylene (PP) film, and 6-μm-thick polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film. Their macroscopic and microscopic tensile deformation behaviors were observed using an optical microscope and a reflection-configured digital holographic microscope, respectively. As a result, laminating the PP or PET films onto the SUS film did not significantly change the macroscopic and microscopic strain changes against the tensile load or microscopic surface changes in the low-strain region. Laminating the PET film onto the SUS film did not reduce the fracture strain, whereas laminating the PP film onto the SUS film did reduce it. One of the reasons may be that burrs formed on the side surface of the PP/SUS laminate. Polishing the side surface of the PP/SUS laminate may suppress the reduction in its fracture strain. The reduction of the fracture strain due to the PP lamination in the 20 μm thick SUS film was larger than that of the 40-μm-thick SUS film. In thin SUS films, small stress concentrators that have almost no effect on macroscopic and microscopic deformation might significantly reduce the fracture strain.