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Characterizing the mechanical properties of polymer coatings typically requires access to specialty equipment, the analysis through which can be tedious despite instrumental precision. An alternative method reported in the literature, strain-induced elastic buckling instability for mechanical measurements (SIEBIMM), is a high throughput, facile yet accurate method, used to characterize the Young’s modulus of supported films and coatings. SIEBIMM can easily be implemented in both academic and industrial settings.

Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the SIEBIMM method has an upper coating thickness limit beyond which the assumptions and practicality of the method are no longer valid.

Experiments: The Young’s moduli of model polyvinyl alcohol coatings (on polydimethylsiloxane substrates) with thicknesses ranging from 67 nm to 40 µm were determined using the SIEBIMM method and the data were subjected to a …