Peculiarities of plastic deformation behavior of surface hardened materials with various interface profile

It was experimentally revealed that loading of coated/surface-hardened materials gives rise to oscillating mese-stress concentrators (mesoSCs) that emerge at the interface between coating/surface-hardened layer (SHL) and substrate. Their relaxation is followed by the development of a system of mesobands oriented in the direction of maximum tangential stresses. The thickness of SHL and the transverse cracking period were clearly correlated, with the former being uniform over the entire working part of the specimen.