Hélène Welemane

This work investigates the hygrothermal cyclic aging of epoxy-based bonded assemblies. The focus is given here to severe long-term environmental conditions. The aging procedure is performed between 70° C with a relative humidity of 90% and −40° C without humidity, over a cyclic period of 12 h and for a total exposure time of 2 months. The aim of this study is to highlight the consequences of such hygrothermal aging on physico-chemical and mechanical parameters at both the material scale (adhesive) and the structural scale (bonded assemblies). Evolution of water absorption and glass transition temperature with aging cycles are monitored on adhesive bulk specimens by gravimetric analysis and DSC analysis respectively. The evolution of the quasi-static mechanical behavior, strength and elongation at failure, is characterized on adhesive massive specimens and on Single Lap Joint assemblies. Results show a progressive and important degradation of physico-chemical and mechanical properties with the number of cycles, of greater amount than that observed during static aging (loss of SLJ strength by 30% after 56 aging days; loss of the adhesive T_g by 45% for around 5% water uptake after aging 21 days). This behavior is related with an embrittling effect at the adhesive scale very specific to water change of state involved in these aging conditions. This combined analysis at different scales ensures a deep understanding of physico-chemical phenomena induced by hygrothermal aging and provides significant information for the further modeling of bonded joints assemblies.

Reactive thermoplastics matrices offer ease of processing using well-known molding techniques (such as Resin Transfer Molding) due to their initially low viscosity. For Polyamide 6 (PA6)/glass composites, the hydroxyl groups on the glass surface slow down the anionic ring-opening polymerization (AROP) reaction, and can ultimately inhibit it. This work aims to thoroughly control the hydroxyl groups and the surface chemistry of glass particulates to facilitate in situ AROP-an aspect that has been barely explored until now. A model system composed of a PA6 matrix synthesized by AROP is reinforced with calcinated and silanized glass microparticles. We systematically quantify, by TGA and FTIR, the complete particle surface modification sequence, from the dehydration, dehydroxylation and rehydroxylation processes, to the silanization step. Finally, the impact of the particle surface chemistry on the polymerization and crystallization of the PA6/glass composites was quantified by DSC. The results confirm that a careful balance is required between the dehydroxylation process, the simultaneous rehydroxylation and silane grafting, and the residual hydroxyl groups, in order to maintain fast polymerization and crystallization kinetics and to prevent reaction inhibition. Specifically, a hydroxyl concentration above 0.2 mmol OH·g⁻¹ leads to a slowdown of the PA6 polymerization reaction. This reaction can be completely inhibited when the hydroxyl concentration reaches 0.77 mmol OH·g⁻¹ as in the case of fully rehydroxylated particles or pristine raw particles. Furthermore, both the rehydroxylation and silanization processes can be realized simultaneously without any negative impact on the polymerization. This can be achieved with a silanization time of 2 h under the treatment conditions of the study. In this case, the silane agent gradually replaces the regenerated hydroxyls. This work provides a roadmap for the preparation of reinforced reactive thermoplastic materials.

Material behaviour is often affected by the heterogeneities existing at the microscopic level. Especially the presence of cracks, voids, etc collectively known as defects, can play a major role in their overall response. Homogenization can be used to study the influence of these heterogeneities and also to estimate the effective properties of a given material. Several research works have been dedicated to determining the elastic behaviour of microcracked media. Yet, thermal properties are not investigated as much. Moreover, the question of unilateral effect (opening/closing of cracks) still remains an important issue. So, this paper aims to provide the effective thermal conductivity of 2D microcracked media with arbitrarily orientated cracks, either open or closed. With the help of Eshelby-like approach, homogenization schemes (dilute and Mori-Tanaka) and bounds (Ponte Castañeda-Willis) are developed to provide the closed-form expressions. In addition, these results are compared to numerical simulations performed based on finite element modelling.

This works deals with the seismic vulnerability of buildings in the Pyrenees mountains region where almost a thousand earthquakes are recorded each year in the border area. The challenge is twofold: first to detect the damage due to seismic events and then to localize it inside studied buildings. Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) coupled with numerical modelling by Finite Element (FE) constitutes an interesting approach to address these issues. Here we intend to apply such methodology on a strategic building located in Andorre-la-Vieille whose structure is complex, irregular and heterogeneous. The structural behaviour of the building is studied through frequency computation method in order to identify its undamaged behaviour. A seismic event is next simulated by a non-linear dynamic computation method which creates damage within the structure. Numerical results (natural frequencies, modal shapes and damage location) allow highlighting damaged zones induced by the earthquake and quantify degradation level in these areas. Accordingly, some guidelines may be given in view of the future instrumentation of the building (accelerometers and RAR).

The development of materials based on renewable and low‐cost resources is today’s crucial interest for civil engineering. This work intends to investigate two new vegetable fibers as composite reinforcement for insulation application in the building industry. Miscanthus and sunflower stalk have mainly been selected for their high fiber content, low water content after harvesting, and availability. These criteria lead to good structural properties and allow a reduction in production and transportation costs. This study aims at demonstrating the feasibility to produce cohesive panels from these lignocellulosic fibers and their related interesting mechanical and thermal properties according to various natural binders.

This work aims at demonstrating the interest of a new methodology for the design and optimization of composite materials and structures. Coupling reliability methods and homogenization techniques allow the consideration of probabilistic design variables at different scales. The main advantage of such an original micromechanics-based approach is to extend the scope of solutions for engineering composite materials to reach or to respect a given reliability level. This approach is illustrated on a civil engineering case including reinforced fiber composites. Modifications of microstructural components properties, manufacturing process, and geometry are investigated to provide new alternatives for design and guidelines for quality control.

A micromechanics-based damage model able to describe the brittle response of initially anisotropic materials is presented. A special emphasis is put on the account of damage-induced anisotropy and unilateral behaviour related to microcracks closure effects. These both features clearly influence the inelastic deformation of microcracked materials and lead to even more complex consequences in the context of initial anisotropy. The aim of this work is then to derive a new strain-based formulation which allows representing the related interactions between all these phenomena. This is achieved through a recent two-dimensional energy-based micromechanical analysis that accounts for the fully anisotropic multilinear response of orthotropic materials weakened by arbitrarily oriented microcracks. On the other hand, the thermodynamics framework gives a standard procedure for the development of the damage evolution law. Throughout the paper, attention is put on the mathematical and thermodynamical consistency of the model to avoid difficulties usually associated to the simultaneous description of damage-induced anisotropy and unilateral effects. In addition to elastic constants, the model requires the identification of only two parameters related to damage evolution. The model has been implemented within the commercial finite-element code ABAQUS, and various numerical simulations are presented to illustrate its capabilities. Especially, evolution of the material symmetry and influence of opening-closure states of microcracks on the damage process are illustrated in the case of brittle matrix composites subjected to different loading cases (axis and off-axis loads, tension and compression, tension followed by compression).