Les balais de démarreurs utilisent un mélange de graphite et de cuivre pour assurer la transmission du courant électrique dans un contact glissant. La densité de courant qu'ils subissent peut atteindre 300A et la vitesse de glissement 20m/s. Ces contraintes très sévères entrainent une usure rapide de ces balais. La conséquence directe est un nombre de cycles insuffisant face au nombre accru demandé par les consommateurs, notamment avec l'introduction de la fonctionnalité stop-start qui augmentent d'une façon brutale le nombre de démarrage d'un démarreur. Le but de la thèse est de comprendre le mécanisme d'usure de ces balais métal-graphite via la modélisation numérique et des essais expérimentaux réalisés sur un banc tribomètre. La compréhension passe au niveau général d'un milieu continu homogène discrétisé par des éléments discrets jusqu'à un mélange d'élément entre cuivre et graphite, pour avoir une appréciation plus approfondie du mode d'usure notamment concernant les deux éléments présents cuivre et graphite, en essayant de chercher une composition optimale. / We study the tribological behavior of brush-commutator contact for electrical starters. Such contact composed of metal-graphite brushes and a copper commutator is under extremely severe electrical and mechanical sollicitations during starting cycles. The direct impact of this is an insufficient number of cycles for stop-start applications before failure. Our goal is to study the effect of electrical current on the tribological behavior of the contact system using enhanced Discrete Element Method. The mechanical, electrical and thermal behaviors are computed for a elementary representative volume of contact system. The simulation results showed the impact of Joule heating on tribological behavior of contact accelerate the wear process of contact, suggesting a better brush material with better electrical conductivity, leading to the study of the impact of metal content on tribological behavior of contact, since metal elements can improve significantly the electrical conductivity of brush material.

L'auteur n'a pas fourni de résumé en français / L'auteur n'a pas fourni de résumé en anglais

La foudre est un phénomène naturel aléatoire impactant un avion de transport civil en moyenne une fois toutes les 1500 heures de vol. Les forts courants et impulsionnels pouvant parcourir la structure d'un aéronef peuvent induire des contraintes physiques aux conséquences sérieuses en ce qui concerne la sûreté. En particulier, quand un assemblage est parcouru par un courant de type foudre, des champs électriques ainsi des densités d'effet Joule importants peuvent engendrer différents phénomènes de décharge. Le risque d'étincelage est particulièrement critique au niveau des réservoirs de carburant, et différentes technologies de protection et procédures de certification sont employées pour maitriser ce risque. Les résultats expérimentaux laissent penser que la formation de ces décharges est due aux résistances électriques localisées aux interfaces entre les différentes pièces des assemblages. Le but de cette thèse a été de modéliser les phénomènes qui se produisent à une échelle microscopique au niveau de telles résistances de contact soumises à de forts courants impulsionnels de type foudre. / Lightning is a natural hazardous event that strikes a civil aircraft on average once per 1500 hours of flight. The corresponding high and impulsive currents that may flow along the structure of the aircraft can generate physical constraints with major consequences regarding safety. In particular, when a fastened assembly is crossed by a lightning current, important electric fields and Joule power densities may give birth to a variety of discharge phenomena. The sparking risk is particularly critical in fuel tanks, and different lightning protection technologies and certification procedures are employed to face it. The ignition of discharges is believed to be mostly due to the local electrical resistance at the interfaces between the parts of the assemblies. The aim of this thesis was to model to phenomena that occur at a microscopic scale of such contact resistances subject to high and impulsive currents.

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans la continuité des études menées pour améliorer la fiabilité des relais MEMS ohmiques et comprendre les mécanismes de dégradation se produisant au niveau du contact électrique aux échelles micro et sub-micrométriques. Les deux premiers chapitres de ce manuscrit permettent d'établir l'état de l'art du domaine et de décrire les différentes techniques expérimentales utilisées afin de caractériser les mécanismes physiques se produisant lors de l'ouverture et la fermeture d'un relais MEMS sous courant. Le troisième chapitre étudie qualitativement et quantitativement le transfert de matière aux distances sub-micrométriques. L'utilisation d'un microscope à force atomique (AFM) permet d'identifier les paramètres clés, notamment la tension de contact à l'état ouvert et la vitesse de commutation. L'origine de ce transfert de matière est attribuée à des émissions de courant se produisant dans les derniers nanomètres avant la fermeture du contact. Un plasma métallique est également observé et caractérisé pendant les phases de commutations. Ces observations conduisent à l'élaboration d'un scénario permettant d'expliquer le transfert de matière à ces dimensions. Le quatrième chapitre se consacre en première partie à l'étude des rebonds lors de la fermeture du contact. On montre que des rebonds peuvent apparaître quelques µs après la fermeture du contact au cours des cycles. Ceux-ci semblent être des indicateurs de la fin de vie du composant. D'autres rebonds, liés aux forces électrostatiques de contact, sont également mis en évidence lors de fermetures à faibles vitesses (qq nm/s). L'importance de ces forces est néanmoins du second ordre et ces derniers rebonds n'interviennent pas directement dans la phase de fermeture d'un relais MEMS. L'étude de la quantification de la résistance de contact lors de l'ouverture du contact constitue la deuxième partie de ce dernier chapitre. La nature quantique de ce phénomène est mise en évidence dans deux dispositifs : un interrupteur MEMS et à l'aide d'un AFM. Il est notamment montré que ce phénomène est seulement observable pour des courants inférieurs à 100µA. Finalement, l'ensemble de ces travaux mènent à différentes recommandations, détaillées en conclusion, nécessaires pour assurer le bon fonctionnement des relais MEMS. / This thesis aims to improve the reliability of ohmic MEMS switches and focuses on the degradation mechanisms of the electrical contact at the micro and nano-scales. The two first chapters of the manuscript provide a state-of–the-art of MEMS switches and describe the different experimental techniques used to characterize the physical phenomena involved in the opening and closure of a MEMS switch under current (“hot switching actuation”). The third chapter studies qualitatively and quantitatively the material transfer at sub micrometer scale. An Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is used to identify the main parameters involved in this phenomenon such as the opening contact voltage and the closing velocity. The origin of the material transfer is attributed to field emission in the last tens of nanometers before the contact closure. A metallic plasma is also observed and characterized during switching operations. According to the different observations, a scenario is suggested to explain material transfer at such small dimensions. The fourth chapter deals with dynamic observation during switching operations. First, bounces can be detected after a few millions of operations, they usually appear a few µs just after the first contact. Such bounces seem to be an early indicator of the lifetime of those devices. Other types of bounces related to the electrostatic contact force can be observed at very low closing velocity (a few nm/s). Nevertheless in a MEMS switch the closing and opening velocity is high enough to avoid such bounces. The second part of this chapter investigates the contact conductance quantization during the opening phase of a contact. We show that this phenomenon can be observed in a MEMS switch and with an AFM when the current is lower than 100µA. As a conclusion, several recommendations are provided to improve the reliability of MEMS switches.

La plupart des études de fretting analyse la réponse des matériaux en contact à partir de critères issus directement des paramètres caractéristiques des cycles de fretting (ouverture du cycle, énergie dissipée, raideur de contact...). La première partie de cette étude s’intéresse à l’influence du dispositif, premier élément du triplet tribologique, sur la réponse en glissement total d’un contact sphère/plan. Le rôle du mode de commande (déplacement imposé ou force actionneur imposée), de la rigidité statique et dynamique du dispositif (analyse vibratoire) et de la nature des matériaux (ductile, fragile ou peu adhérent) sur la forme des cycles est analysée de manière à distinguer les contributions respectives du dispositif et des matériaux. La seconde partie de cette étude est consacrée à une analyse de l’influence des paramètres opératoires (charge normale, déplacement, fréquence, intensité électrique) de couples CuSn6-CuSn6 pour application à la connectique embarquée bas niveau, où le fretting représente l’une des principales causes des défaillances des contacts électriques par perte de conductivité électrique. Une analyse de la variance a permis de hiérarchiser et d’identifier les couplages existants entre les paramètres opératoires et les réponses tribologiques et électriques. Un examen approfondi des signaux d’émission acoustique (amplitude EA, émissivité, énergie absolue, fréquence du centroïde…) et de la résistance électrique du contact a permis une compréhension temporelle des mécanismes locaux de dégradation des contacts synthétisée par une approche troisième corps. / Most fretting studies analyze material’s responses using criteria directly issued from characteristic parameters of the fretting loops (loop aperture, dissipated energy, contact stiffness...). The first part of this study concerns the influence of the device, first element of the tribological triplet, on the gross slip response of a ball-on-flat contact. The role of the static and dynamic device stiffness (vibratory analysis), of the control system mode (imposed displacement or imposed actuator force) and of the material type (ductile, brittle or non-adherent) on the loop shape is analyzed in order to distinguish the respective contributions of devices and materials. The second part of this study concern the analysis of the influence of operating parameters (normal force, displacement, frequency, current intensity) for CuSn6-CuSn6 pairs for low current onboard connectors applications. An analysis of variance allowed to prioritize and identify existing linkages between the operating parameters and the tribology and electrical responses. An examination of acoustic emission signals (amplitude AE, emissivity, absolute energy, centroid frequency…) and the electrical resistance of contact allowed a temporal understanding of local mechanisms of degradation synthesized by an approach third body.

Master's thesis "effect of dust particles on sliding electrical contact" summarizes the sliding contact theory and praxe in rotating electrical machines. The principle of brush machines is described and the working environments are defined. The individual components of the sliding contact and reasons of their degradation are described in detail. Emphasis is placed on the influence of foreign particles, which can be assessed in practice by the method of dust particles. Furthermore, these theoretical knowledge was used in the practical assessment of the technical condition of various machines, as well as the called method. One set of brushes for the traction motor of the locomotive T47.0 was also experimentally innovated.

Ag is a widely used electrical contact material due to its excellent electrical properties. The problems with Ag are that it is soft and has poor tribological properties (high friction and wear in Ag/Ag sliding contacts). For smart grid applications, friction and wear became increasingly important issues to be improved, due to much higher sliding frequency in the harsh operation environment. The aim of this thesis is to explore several different concepts to improve the properties of Ag electrical contacts for smart grid applications. Bulk Ag-X (X=Al, Sn In) alloys were synthesized by melting of metals. An important result was that the presence of a hcp phase in the alloys significantly reduced friction coefficients and wear rates compared to Ag. This was explained by a sliding-induced reorientation of easy-shearing planes in the hexagonal structure. The Ag-In system showed the best combination of properties for potential use in future contact applications.  This thesis has also demonstrated the strength of a combinatorial approach as a high-throughput method to rapidly screen Ag-based alloy coatings. It was also used for a rapid identification of optimal deposition parameters for reactive sputtering of a complex AgFeO2 oxide with narrow synthesis window. A new and rapid process was developed to grow low frictional AgI coatings and a novel designed microstructure of nanoporous Ag filled with AgI (n-porous Ag/AgI) using a solution chemical method was also explored. The AgI coatings exhibited low friction coefficient and acceptable contact resistance. However, under very harsh conditions, their lifetime is too short. The initial tribotests showed high friction coefficient of the n-porous Ag/AgI coating, indicating an issue regarding its mechanical integrity. The use of graphene as a solid lubricant in sliding electrical contacts was investigated as well. The results show that graphene is an excellent solid lubricant in Ag-based contacts. Furthermore, the lubricating effect was found to be dependent on chemical composition of the counter surface. As an alternative lubricant, graphene oxide is cheaper and easier to produce. Preliminary tests with graphene oxide showed a similar frictional behavior as graphene suggesting a potential use of this material as lubricant in Ag contacts.

Contact resistance is the most important and universal characteristic of all types of electrical and thermal contacts. Accurate measurement of contact resistance is important, because it serves as a measure for judging the performance and operational life span of contacts. Rise in contact temperature is one of the major factors that pose a big threat to the stability of electrical contacts. Dissipation of heat by solid conduction through a contact interface is governed by its thermal contact conductance (TCC). This emphasizes the need to study the TCC of an electrical contact along with its electrical contact resistance (ECR). Simultaneous measurement of ECR and TCC is important for understanding the interconnection between these two quantities and the possible influence of one over another. Real time experimental data and analytical correlations can be extremely helpful in developing electrical contacts with improved thermal management capabilities. As a part of the experimental investigation, a test facility has been developed for making simultaneous measurement of ECR and TCC across flat contacts. The facility has the capability of measuring ECR and TCC over a wide range of operating parameters, such as contact pressure, contact temperature, interstitial gaseous media, ambient pressure, etc. It is also capable of determining the electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity of materials as a function of temperature, which is very helpful in analyzing the generated contact resistance data. Using this facility, simultaneous ECR and TCC measurements are made across bare and gold plated contacts of OFHC Cu (oxygen free high conductivity copper) and brass. Simultaneous ECR and TCC measurements are made on nominally flat contacts in the contact pressure range of 0 – 1 MPa and the interface temperature range of 20 – 120 °C. Effect of contact pressure and interface temperature on ECR and TCC is studied on bare and gold coated contacts in vacuum, N2, Ar, and SF6 environments. TCC strongly depends on the thermophysical properties of the interstitial media and shows a significant enhancement in gaseous media, because of the increased interfacial gap conductance compared to vacuum. The gas pressure is varied in the range of 1 – 2.6 bar to study its effect on the gap conductance at different contact pressures and interface temperatures. Minor increase in the ECR observed in gaseous media is found to be independent of the properties of the media. Experimental results indicated that ECR depends on the gas pressure as well as on the applied contact load. Effect of gold coating and its thickness on the ECR and TCC across OFHC Cu and brass contacts is studied. Measurements on electroplated gold specimens having different gold layer thicknesses (0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 µm) indicated that ECR decreases and TCC increases with increasing gold coating thickness. Effect of gold coating on the substrate properties, contact surface tomography, and microhardness is analyzed and correlated to the observed behavior of ECR and thermal gap conductance. An attempt is made to understand and quantify the changes in the contact surface characteristics due to contact loading and heating, by measuring various surface topography parameters before and after the experimentation. Effect of thermal stresses (generated due to temperature variations) on ECR and TCC is studied and inclusion of an experimentally measured temperature dependent load correction factor is suggested in the theoretical models to take into account the effect of thermal stresses in contact assemblies.

This research conducts tribological investigation in three areas. The first area of research is to obtain basic understanding of tribological properties of high performance Inconel alloys. Pin-on-disk testing was conducted through a range of applied normal loads and sliding velocities in an unlubricated condition. Average friction coefficient, friction work, and specific wear rates were calculated from the data and microscopy techniques were used to observe and characterize wear mechanisms. Experimental results show a dependence of average coefficient of friction as a function of frictional work. Also shown is the wear rate dependence on frictional work, predicated by a wear mechanism change. This research gives a tribological baseline for high performance alloys. The second area of research is in the in situ spatial study of friction, complemented by monitoring changes in electrical contact resistance (ECR). Pin-on-disk testing of samples was done under low normal loads and velocities. Friction and electrical contact resistance measurements were taken spatially in the wear track during each friction cycle, giving a spatial evolution of friction and resistance change, in situ. Results show a lowering in the ECR under increased friction cycles, which was closely related to a change in the friction coefficient of the material. Using surface profilometry and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, we determined that the lowering of resistance is a result of surface modification through wear and development of a friction induced conductive tribo-film. This research provides a simple method for in situ monitoring of friction and solidifies a fundamental relationship between friction and contact resistance. The third area of research is the design of a variable force tribometer, incorporating the fundamental results demonstrated in the first two experiments. The creation of a novel testing apparatus to test materials under dynamic tribological conditions is given in detail. Simple experiments were performed on an Inconel sample and preliminary results show how dynamic normal and tangential forces affect the friction coefficient. These early results utilizing the variable force tribometer will lay the groundwork for more advanced research into the dynamic nature of friction.

This dissertation is devoted to the development of novel devices for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications using the promise of inkjet printing with two-dimensional (2D) materials. A systematic approach toward the characterization of the liquid exfoliated 2D inks comprising of graphene, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), tungsten diselenide (WSe2), and 2D perovskites is discussed at depth. In the first study, the biocompatibility of 2D materials -- graphene and MoS2 -- that were drop cast onto flexible PET and polyimide substrates using mouse embryonic fibroblast (STO) and human esophageal fibroblast (HEF) cell lines, was explored. The polyimide samples for both STO and HEF showed high biocompatibility with a cell survival rate of up to ~ 98% and a confluence rate of 70-98%. An inkjet printed, biocompatible, heterostructure photodetector was constructed using inks of photo-active MoS2 and electrically conducting graphene, which facilitated charge collection of the photocarriers. The importance of such devices stems from their potential utility in age-related-macular degeneration (AMD), which is a condition where the photosensitive retinal tissue degrades with aging, eventually compromising vision. The biocompatible inkjet printed 2D heterojunction devices were photoresponsive to broadband incoming radiation in the visible regime, and the photocurrent scaled proportionally with the incident light intensity, exhibiting a photoresponsivity R ~ 0.30 A/W. Strain-dependent measurements were also conducted with bending, that showed Iph ~ 1.16 µA with strain levels for curvature up to ~ 0.262 cm-1, indicating the feasibility of such devices for large format arrays printed on flexible substrates. Alongside the optoelectronic measurements, temperature-dependent (~ 80 K to 573 K) frequency shifts of the Raman-active E12g and A1g modes of multilayer MoS2 exhibited a red-shift with increasing temperature, where the temperature coefficients for the E12g and A1g modes were determined to be ~ - 0.016 cm-1/K and ~ - 0.014 cm-1/K, respectively. The phonon lifetime τ was determined to be in the picosecond range for the E12g and A1g modes, respectively, for the liquid exfoliated multilayer MoS2. Secondly, an all inkjet printed WSe2-graphene hetero-structure photodetector on flexible polyimide substrates is also studied, where the device performance was found to be superior compared to the MoS2-graphene photodetector. The printed photodetector was photo responsive to broadband incoming radiation in the visible regime, where the photo responsivity R ~ 0.7 A/W and conductivity σ ~ 2.3 × 10-1 S/m were achieved at room temperature. Thirdly, the synthesis of solution-processed 2D layered organo-halide (CH3(CH2)3NH3)2(CH3NH3)n-1PbnI3n+1 (n = 2, 3, and 4) perovskites is presented here, where inkjet printing was used to fabricate heterostructure flexible photodetector devices on polyimide substrates. The ON/OFF ratio was determined to be high, ~ 2.3 × 103 while the photoresponse time on the rising and falling edges was measured to be rise ~ 24 ms and fall ~ 65 ms, respectively. The strain-dependent measurements, conducted here for the first time for inkjet printed perovskite photodetectors, revealed the Ip decreased by only ~ 27% with bending (radius of curvature of ~ 0.262 cm-1). This work demonstrates the tremendous potential of the inkjet printed, composition tunable, organo-halide 2D perovskite heterostructures for high-performance photodetectors, where the techniques are readily translatable toward flexible solar cell platforms as well. Fourthly, metal contacts and carrier transport in 2D (CH3(CH2)3NH3)2(CH3NH3)n-1PbnI3n+1 (n = 4) perovskites is a critical topic, where the use of silver (Ag) and graphene (Gr) inks as metallic contacts to 2D perovskites was investigated. The all inkjet printed Gr-perovskite and Ag-perovskite photodetectors were found to be photo-responsive to broadband incoming radiation where measurements were conducted from λ ~ 400 nm to 2300 nm. The photoresponsivity R and detectivity D were compared between the Gr-perovskite and Ag-perovskite photodetectors, which revealed the higher performance for the Ag-perovskite photodetector. The superior performance of the Ag-perovskite photodetector was also justified with the Schottky barrier analysis using the thermionic emission model through temperature-dependent transport measurements. Finally, this dissertation ends with the description of the first steps for using solution-processed, inkjet printed perovskites for solar cells. The preliminary investigations include the discussion of the chemical formulations for the carrier separation layers, dispersion route, and the variation of solar cell figures of merit with processing.