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Air voids are known to be sites for the initiation of corrosion in reinforcing steel bar in concrete structures. The development of suitable non-destructive methods for measuring the void content at the reinforcing steel/concrete interface would therefore provide a predictive measure of the susceptibility of a structure to future reinforcing steel corrosion, and also allow the concrete composition to be adjusted during subsequent pouring. Of particular interest here are air voids from 1 to 10 mm in size. Normal hardened concrete contains from 1 - 2 % air voids by volume. A literature survey of existing NDT methods showed that they did not possess sufficient resolution to detect small voids less than 10 mm in size in concrete. A drawback to existing methods is excessive signal attenuation by the concrete, mainly because they are applied from outside the concrete. It was considered that the only approach to overcome signal attenuation was to develop methods to measure voids from inside the concrete. This is the approach is adopted in the thesis. New methods and approaches to measuring small voids in concrete were proposed. A new sensor was developed, referred to as a voidmeter, and optical fibre and tactile pressure mapping techniques applied in unique ways for measuring small voids. The principle of the voidmeter is simple: a rubber sleeve is stretched over a perforated steel tube, cast in concrete and inflated using water. The volume of water in excess of that needed to fill the sensor itself equals the volume of voids at the sensor/concrete interface. Testing in concrete showed that the voidmeter could measure total void volume with good accuracy in the range covered of 0.2 - 1.2 ml, equivalent to a measured void volume content of 1 - 5%. Resolution was estimated at 0.1 ml. Void sizes at the concrete interface surface ranged from less than one to over 15 mm. The fibre optic sensor consists of a plastic fibre from which the cladding has been removed. A fibre embedded in concrete measures void content by sensing the different refractive index of air compared to other concrete materials at the fibre surface. The light response of a fibre embedded in mortar, using plastic sleeves on the fibre and aluminium powder to generate voids, was found to be proportional to air void contact over the range 0-100%. The tactile pressure sensor consists of a pressure sensitive pad, and would appear to have potential for measuring void contect by attachment to rebar in concrete. Three types of pressure sensor were tested and found to measure air voids as small as 2mm in size on concrete surfaces. Experimental work was also carried out to understand air void morphology at the steel/mortar surface and the effect of air voids on water transport in mortar. Air voids were found to collect preferentially next to solid objects such as mould surfaces. It was speculated that this increased porosity may result in rebar being conduits for increased water migration in concrete.

Les nanoparticules de silice sont très largement étudiées pour les applications biomédicales. Elles permettent une facilité et une flexibilité de la synthèse des particules et une bio-toxicité limitée. Cette thèse a mené une grande diversité de résultats impliquant des nanomatériaux de silice. Premièrement, les propriétés physicochimiques et les propriétés de biodégradation de trois types de nanoparticules de silice structurées ont été étudiées dans un tampon, un milieu de culture et au contact de fibroblastes cutanés humains suggérant que les nanoparticules de silice doivent être principalement considérées comme dégradées par hydrolyse, et non biodégradé. Ensuite, des nanoparticules de silice multifonctionnelles constituées de nanoparticules de silice creuses et de nanoparticules de MnO2 ont été synthétisées. Ainsi le contrôle de la libération du médicament et la performance de l’imagerie de ces nanoplates ont été étudiées à partir de modèles 2D à 3D. Cette approche pourrait être utilisée pour une évaluation rapide de la bio-fonctionnalité des nanoparticules avant de mettre en place des expériences in vivo. En outre, un nouveau nanocomposite 3D à base de collagène utilisant des tiges de silice a été étudié et les relations entre la composition composite, la structure et les propriétés mécaniques, mettant en évidence le rôle clé des interactions collagène-silice. L'influence de ces paramètres sur l'adhésion et la prolifération des cellules fibroblastiques a également été étudiée. De plus, nous avons préparé et utilisé des nanobatonnêts de silice magnétiques pour contrôler l’orientation des particules dans le réseau de collagène grâce à un champ magnétique externe. Tous les résultats apportent de nouvelles connaissances sur la préparation et les propriétés des bionanocomposites et ouvrent la voie à des hydrogels multifonctionnels. / Silica nanoparticles, thanks to the great easy and adaptability of particle synthesis and limited biotoxicity, is very widely studied for biomedical applications. This thesis conducted a large diversity of investigations involving silica nanomaterials. Firstly, the physicochemical properties and biodegradation properties of three types of structured silica nanoparticles were studied in a buffer, a culture medium and in contact with human dermal fibroblasts that suggest that, under these conditions, the silica nanoparticles must be mainly considered as degraded by hydrolysis and not biodegraded. Then, multifunctional silica nanoparticles which are consist of hollow silica nanoparticles and MnO2 nanosheets were synthesized. And the control drug release and imaging performance of this nanoplatforms were studied from 2D to 3D models. This approach could be used for a rapid assessment of the biofunctionality of nanoparticles before setting up in vivo experiments. Furthermore, a new 3D collagen-based nanocomposites using silica rods were studied and the relationships between the composite composition, structure and mechanical properties, emphasizing the key role of collagen-silica interactions. The influence of these parameters on the adhesion and proliferation of fibroblast cells was also investigated. In addition, we prepared and used magnetic silica nanorods to control particle orientation within the collagen network thanks to an external magnetic field. All the results bring new insights on the preparation and properties of bionanocomposites and open the route to multifunctional hydrogels.

Ce travail porte sur la fonctionnalisation en volume et/ou en surface et la caractérisation multi-échelle de films minces de chitosane utilisés en ingénierie tissulaire. L’ajout des nanoliposomes à base de lécithine naturelle (végétale ou marine) et un traitement plasma sont employés pour réaliser ces deux fonctionnalisations. De nombreuses analyses des caractéristiques physico-chimiques et « structurales » de films minces ont montré que lorsqu’on ajoute 10 % de nanoliposomes dans les films de chitosane, l’hydrophobicité de la surface s’améliore de 18 à 36 %, ce fait est attribué à la présence de composants polaires. La cristallinité est légèrement augmentée ; à 37 °C, le module d’Young diminue de 6 GPa environ jusqu’à près de 4 GPa ; aucune nouvelle liaison ne se crée entre le chitosane et les nanoliposomes ; une diminution de degré de déacétylation est observée, qui pourrait être associée à la conformation des nanoliposomes ajoutés en volume aux films de chitosane. Le traitement plasma a réussi à modifier la structure de surface du chitosane seul et du chitosane mélangé aux nanoliposomes par greffe de groupements actifs (groupes amine, C-O, COOH, -OH). En revanche, dans notre cas, les liaisons hydrogène entre les groupes polaires créés par le traitement plasma peuvent être éliminées partiellement après un temps donné, ce qui limite l’application du traitement. Ensuite, des études préliminaires sur la biocompatibilité in vitro et la biodégradabilité in vitro sont réalisées pour les films de chitosane et du chitosane mélangé aux nanoliposomes. Les cellules souches mésenchymateuses sont utilisées pour l’étude de la première, et une solution de PBS contenant 10 mg/L de lysozyme pour la seconde. Les propriétés physico-chimiques des films de chitosane mélangé aux nanoliposomes marines, leur faible cytotoxicité aux cellules et leur stabilité dans la solution de PBS contenant du lysozyme leur permettent d’être utilisés comme matrice de support dans le domaine de la médecine régénérative / This work focused on functionalized chitosan thin films in the bulk and/or on the surface by nanoliposomes based on natural lecithin (plant and marine) and plasma treatment. Various techniques were used for physicochemical properties analysis of functionalized thin films. The results showed that by adding the nanoliposomes into the chitosan scaffold, the surface wettability of thin films increased from 18 % to 36 %. The crystallinity degree was slightly improved in blend thin films. Any new bond was determined by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), which confirmed that there is no chemical interaction between the nanoliposomes and chitosan. The Young’s modulus of blend thin films deceased from 6 GPa to 5 GPa. The morphological, nanomechanical properties and adhesion force of each scaffold system determined by Scanning Probe Microscopy (HarmoniXTM mode) showed that the fish nanoliposomes/chitosan thin film had the most similar properties compared to the pure chitosan thin film. The surface of chitosane films and nanoliposomes/chitosane blend films were modified by the plasma treatment. Functional groups (amine groups, C-O, COOH, -OH) are grafted onto the surface enhancing thus the surface energy of the films. But the hydrogen bonds between the polar groups introduced by the treatment can be destroyed after a given time; the author proposed that the functionalization in the bulk by adding of nanoliposomes provided more stable and greater possibility of new materials producing than the functionalization at the surface by plasma treatment for potential tissue engineering application. Then, in vitro biocompatibility preliminary study was carried using human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs); and in vitro biodegradability study was tested in the phosphate buffered saline (PBS) mixed with 10 mg/L lysozyme. The films of chitosan functionalized by salmon nanoliposomes showed more interesting as matrix extracellular for regenerative medicine applications because of their physico-chemical properties, low cytotoxicity and the stability inside the PBS and lysozyme solutions.