A method for quantitative evaluation of scratch-induced damage formed on the surface of polymeric and coating materials, comprising: preparing a test specimen of polymeric and coating materials; inducing a scratch damage on the surface of the test specimen by applying a scratch force F s with a scratch tip either in area-contact with the material surface, wherein A is the contact area between the scratch tip and the material surface or in line-contact with the material surface, wherein I is the contact length between the scratch tip and the material surface; representing the scratch damage formed on the test specimen as corresponding color coordinates by either obtaining a color image by scanning the scratch damage formed on the surface of the test specimen or by acquiring the color coordinates or the color difference of the scratched and intact portion using a color analysis profiler; and analysing the scratch damage formed on the surface of the specimen using a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional color model: representing a quantitated scratch damage index from a combination of the force F s applied to the surface of the test specimen and the color coordinates corresponding to the scratch damage, characterised in that the scratch index is represented by the degree of scratch damage (ΔD) and scratch strength ( S s) in case of area-contact, and is represented by the degree of scratch damage (ΔD) and scratch resistance ( R s) in case of line-contact, wherein said degree of scratch damage (ΔD) is calculated as the Euclidian distance between the color coordinates of the scratch induced portion x and the intact portion y: Δ D x y = ‖ x − y ‖ = ∑ i = 1 n x i − y i 2 wherein n is the dimension of the color model and wherein said scratch strength ( S s) is calculated by S → s = F → s / A and said scratch resistance ( R s) is calculated by R → s = F → s / l preparing a test specimen of polymeric and coating materials; inducing a scratch damage on the surface of the test specimen by applying a scratch force F s with a scratch tip either in area-contact with the material surface, wherein A is the contact area between the scratch tip and the material surface or in line-contact with the material surface, wherein I is the contact length between the scratch tip and the material surface; representing the scratch damage formed on the test specimen as corresponding color coordinates by either obtaining a color image by scanning the scratch damage formed on the surface of the test specimen or by acquiring the color coordinates or the color difference of the scratched and intact portion using a color analysis profiler; and analysing the scratch damage formed on the surface of the specimen using a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional color model: representing a quantitated scratch damage index from a combination of the force F s applied to the surface of the test specimen and the color coordinates corresponding to the scratch damage, characterised in that the scratch index is represented by the degree of scratch damage (ΔD) and scratch strength ( S s) in case of area-contact, and is represented by the degree of scratch damage (ΔD) and scratch resistance ( R s) in case of line-contact, wherein said degree of scratch damage (ΔD) is calculated as the Euclidian distance between the color coordinates of the scratch induced portion x and the intact portion y: Δ D x y = ‖ x − y ‖ = ∑ i = 1 n x i − y i 2 wherein n is the dimension of the color model and wherein said scratch strength ( S s) is calculated by S → s = F → s / A and said scratch resistance ( R s) is calculated by R → s = F → s / l representing a quantitated scratch damage index from a combination of the force F s applied to the surface of the test specimen and the color coordinates corresponding to the scratch damage, characterised in that the scratch index is represented by the degree of scratch damage (ΔD) and scratch strength ( S s) in case of area-contact, and is represented by the degree of scratch damage (ΔD) and scratch resistance ( R s) in case of line-contact, wherein said degree of scratch damage (ΔD) is calculated as the Euclidian distance between the color coordinates of the scratch induced portion x and the intact portion y: Δ D x y = ‖ x − y ‖ = ∑ i = 1 n x i − y i 2 wherein n is the dimension of the color model and wherein said scratch strength ( S s) is calculated by S → s = F → s / A and said scratch resistance ( R s) is calculated by R → s = F → s / l