Cathodic Blister Evolution in Multilayer Coatings: A Critical Review of Diffusion, Fracture Coupling and Stability Criteria

Tribological systems involving rolling and sliding contacts generate coupled mechanical interactions that govern friction, wear, and surface degradation. These interactions produce multiaxial residual stresses that influence crack initiation, accelerate wear, and promote environmentally assisted damage. In corrosive environments, tribo-corrosion further intensifies material degradation through the combined action of mechanical wear and electrochemical reactions. Protective organic and metallic coatings are widely used to mitigate these effects; however, their performance depends on adhesion, stress evolution, and resistance to coupled mechanical and chemical degradation. Among the principal failure mechanisms, cathodic blistering is strongly influenced by diffusion, interfacial stresses, and tribological loading. This review therefore links cathodic blister evolution with coating degradation under combined tribological and corrosive conditions. The review critically examines the Khan-Nazir meso-mechanics Models I, II, and III, which integrate stress-assisted diffusion, residual stress development, mixed-mode fracture, and coating-substrate delamination. Recent developments have extended these models through substrate deformation, multilayer coating architectures, and electro-chemo-mechanical phase-field simulations. The models demonstrate how diffusion-induced and residual stresses interact with tribological loading to initiate and propagate interfacial defects. The analysis shows that blister evolution is primarily governed by elastic modulus mismatch and friction-induced stress fields, while stability criteria predict non-axisymmetric blister morphologies associated with buckling and delamination. Overall, this review highlights the significance of the Khan-Nazir models for understanding wear, friction, and coating durability in engineering systems. The unified framework provides valuable guidance for the design and optimisation of advanced multilayer protective coatings for marine, automotive, energy, and manufacturing applications operating under rolling/sliding contact and tribo-corrosion environments.

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