Response to the comments of Nutt and King on the bond strength measurements of Gupta et al.

In the early 1990s a laser spallation experiment was developed by us (Gupta et al.) for the unambiguous measurement of tensile strength between hard elastic coatings of micron thickness and non-dissipative elastic substrates—all characteristic of systems used in metal matrix and ceramic matrix composites. The methodology, the choice of material properties, the results and the level of professionalism of the above work was criticized by Nutt and King in this journal. In what follows we respond to their criticisms and demonstrate on the basis of new fully analytic simulations and clarification of the experimental conditions, that the results of Gupta et al. stand without any need for modification.