L’allégement des véhicules est une préoccupation majeure de l’industrie automobile, puisque cela permet de réduire les émissions des gaz à effet de serre, ce qui entraînerait une réduction des impacts de ceux-ci sur l’environnement à l’échelle mondiale. Cette volonté d’allégement des véhicules tout en restant accessible en termes de coûts, a conduit au remplacement des matériaux métalliques par des composites à matrices thermoplastiques pour de nombreuses applications. Le compromis entre la tenue thermomécanique et le coût massique du matériau amène à sélectionner des matrices polyamides renforcées par des fibres de verre courtes, et mises en forme par injection. Cependant, les outils prédictifs du comportement et les critères robustes pour la caractérisation des propriétés en fatigue, manquent encore. Ils sont pourtant indispensables pour la conception de pièces structurelles dans l’industrie automobile. La caractérisation en fatigue des polyamides renforcés de fibres de verre courtes présente de nombreuses difficultés, liées au comportement fortement non linéaire de la matrice dans les conditions de service visées (température et humidité), à la nature composite de ces matériaux, à l’influence du procédé de fabrication (orientation des fibres) et au caractère fortement dissipatif de la matrice thermoplastique (augmentations de température non négligeables lors des chargements cycliques). Un enjeu majeur est de comprendre les liens entre la microstructure, le chargement thermo-(hygro)-mécanique et les propriétés de fatigue (sites d’initiation, scénarios d’évolution, critère de rupture). Le premier objectif de cette thèse est de proposer des protocoles d’analyse permettant de caractériser l’influence de chaque paramètre sur le comportement en fatigue. Par ailleurs, la complexité des pièces industrielles en termes de géométrie et d’orientation des fibres soulève la question de la pertinence des éprouvettes classiques. Le second objectif principal de cette thèse est donc de concevoir des éprouvettes représentatives en terme d’orientation des fibres et d’accidents géométriques des pièces industrielles (appelées éprouvettes de structure) et de valider pour ces cas complexes, les démarches et critères proposés. Pour répondre à ces objectifs, nous souhaitons proposer un protocole basé sur des mesures d’auto-échauffement, qui donnerait accès d’une part aux champs d’énergie dissipée pour les cas hétérogènes investigués et qui offrirait, d’autre part, une opportunité de caractérisation rapide des propriétés en fatigue au travers de critères énergétiques / Vehicle weight reduction is a major issue in the automotive industry, because this contributes to reducing global warming emissions, resulting in a reduction of negative environmental impacts at the worldwide scale. To replace heavy metallic materials conventionally used, short fiber reinforced thermoplastics (SFRT) provide today a major opportunity to obtain lightweight automotive parts at a reasonable cost for several applications. The cost and the thermomechanical properties motivate the choice of polyamide matrix reinforced with glass fibers manufactured by injection molding. However, predictive modeling behavior tools and robust fatigue criteria must be identified. Both are needed for the design of structural pieces in the automotive industry. The fatigue design of SFRT components for structural applications in the automotive industry requires an accurate knowledge of several factors because the material features are complex, these features are related to the strong nonlinear behavior of the matrix under the service conditions (temperature and humidity), the composite nature of the material, the influence of the injection molding (fiber orientation) and the dissipative characteristics of the thermoplastic matrix (significant temperature rise during the cyclic loadings). A major issue is to understand the relations between the microstructure, the thermo-hydro-mechanical loading and the fatigue properties (fatigue initiation sites, evolution scenarios, and failure criterion). The first objective of this thesis is to suggest methods that allow for the characterization of the influence of each parameter on the fatigue behavior. Furthermore, the complexity of the industrial pieces in terms of geometry and fiber orientation challenges the relevancy of the classical samples. The second objective of this thesis is consequently to design more complex samples that intend to be representative in terms of fiber orientation and geometric details found in the industrial pieces (called structural samples) and to validate the methods and the fatigue criteria suggested for these complex cases. To achieve these objectives, a method based on thermal measurements giving access to the dissipation fields for the heterogeneous cases considered is proposed, this method also offers a very high reduction of the characterization duration of the fatigue properties through energetic criteria

Transdutores baseados em cascas piezocompósitas têm uma vasta aplicação no campo de estruturas inteligentes, principalmente como atuadores, sensores e coletores de energia. Essas estruturas piezocompósitas são geralmente compostas por dois ou mais tipos de materiais, como por exemplo materiais piezelétricos, ortotrópicos elásticos (possuem fibras de reforçamento) e isotrópicos (materiais homogêneos). Vários fatores devem ser considerados no projeto de transdutores baseados em cascas piezocompósitas, como o tamanho, a forma, a localização e a polarização do material piezelétrico, bem como a orientação das fibras do material ortotrópico. O projeto desses transdutores é complexo e trabalhos anteriores envolvendo esses tipos de materiais sugerem utilizar Método de Otimização Topológica (MOT) para aprimorar o desempenho dos transdutores distribuindo o material piezelétrico sobre substratos fixos de materiais isotrópicos e ortotrópicos, ou otimizar a orientação das fibras dos materiais ortotrópicos com material piezelétrico com tamanho, forma e localização previamente estabelecidos. Assim, nesta tese, propõe-se o desenvolvimento de uma metodologia baseada no MOT para projetar transdutores piezocompósitos de casca considerando, simultaneamente, a otimização da distribuição e do sentido de polarização do material piezelétrico, e também a otimização da orientação das fibras de materiais ortotrópicos, que é livre para assumir valores diferentes ao longo da mesma camada compósita. Utilizando essa metodologia, são obtidos resultados numéricos para atuadores e sensores em regime estático e para coletores de energia com circuito elétrico acoplado, em regime dinâmico amortecido. Para os casos dos sensores e dos coletores de energia, também são consideradas as tensões mecânicas na estrutura, as quais devem obedecer os critérios de von Mises (para materiais isotrópicos) e de Tsai-Wu (para materiais ortotrópicos) para que não haja falhas na estrutura, que está sujeita a esforços mecânicos. / Transducers based on laminated piezocomposite shell structures have a wide application in the field of smart structures, especially as actuators, sensors and energy harvesting devices. These piezocomposite structures are generally composed by two or more kinds of materials, such as piezoelectric, isotropic, and elastic orthotropic (fiber reinforcement) materials. Several factors must be considered in the design of piezocomposite transducers, such as size, shape, location and polarization of the piezoelectric material and the fiber orientation of the orthotropic material. The design of these transducers is complex and previous studies involving these types of materials suggest using \"Topology Optimization Method\" (TOM) to enhance the performance of piezoelectric transducers by distributing piezoelectric material over fixed isotropic and orthotropic substrate or to optimize the fiber orientation of orthotropic materials with piezoelectric patches previously established. Thus, this thesis proposes the development of a methodology based on the TOM to design laminated piezocomposite shell transducers by considering simultaneously the optimization of distribution and the polarization direction of the piezoelectric material, and also the optimization of the fiber orientation orthotropic material, which is free to assume different values along the same composite layer. By using this methodology, numerical results are obtained for actuators and sensors under static response, and energy harvesting devices with an electrical circuit coupled, in dynamic damped analysis. In the case of sensors and energy harvesting devices, which are subjected to mechanical loads, the mechanical stresses in the structure are also considered, which must satisfy two stress criteria to prevent failure: von Mises for isotropic materials and Tsai-Wu for orthotropic materials.

No / An extensive study of the fibre orientation structures developed in a transverse ribbed plate during injection moulding, and the use of these structures to investigate the effect of local fibre orientation state on crack initiation resistance, is reported. The fibre orientation results for the ribbed plate, measured using large area image analysis system developed at Leeds University, showed that after an initial settling down period, the central core region, where the fibres are aligned perpendicular to the flow direction, decreased in size monotonically, with an associated monotonic increase in the outer shell regions, where the fibres are aligned preferentially along the injection direction. Interestingly, the level of orientation in the two regions remained almost constant: only the proportions of the two regions were found to change with flow length. Across the plate, close to the gate, the central core region was found to have a lens-like shape, while at the other end of the plate the core was thinner and also consistent in thickness across the sample width. The transverse rib was found to cause little disturbance to the fibre orientation of the base plate. The different proportions of the shell and core regions at different locations over the ribbed plate provided an ideal case to test the proposition of Friedrich that the crack resistance of a short fibre reinforced material depends on the number of fibres that are perpendicular to the crack tip. The impact test results gathered in this way confirmed this hypothesis of Friedrich.

With increasing emphasis and regulations on the environmental footprint in industries, the integration of reduced carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) plastic materials is desirable. Fiber-reinforced plastic materials mechanical properties differ with varying fiber orientations. Similarly, the welding line phenomenon, commonly present in more complex injection molded parts, decreases the mechanical performance. This thesis aims to experimentally investigate tensile behavior on reduced CO2eq reinforced plastics in different fiber orientations and weld line configurations.  Ten materials with reduced CO2eq are investigated, the types of materials are as follows: PA6 (Polyamide6), PP (Polypropylene), and PA6/PP blend materials. Both short fiber-reinforced polymers (SFRP) and long fiber-reinforced polymers (LFRP) are investigated. The screening resulted in three selected materials for further investigation: one recycled PA6, one bio-based PA6/PP, and one alternative PP. The further investigation involves tensile testing in the five directions and three weld line configurations with non-standardized geometry specimens punched out from an injection molded plate with controlled fiber orientation. Two types of uniform fiber orientation plates are manufactured for the testing conditions, one with holes for weld line testing and one without for testing of orientation. The evaluated fiber orientations are 0° (fibers parallel to load direction), 22.5°, 45°, 67.5°, and 90° (fibers transverse to load direction). The weld line configuration consists of three consecutive holes with 96.5, 146.5, and 196.5 mm distances from the gating system. Three weld line test specimens are generated from each plate, they are denoted W1, W2, and W3 from their respective distance from the gating system, with W1 being closest to the gate. Optical microscopy of fiber orientation and failure modes for the test specimens are performed to investigate and validate the testing conditions.  Varying fiber orientation was found to greatly affect the stress-strain behavior in all four materials investigated. The tensile strength was reduced from longitudinal to transverse fiber orientation, with the most significant reduction near flow direction. High variations were present for the brittle materials supposedly from their weakness to stress concentrations. Strain tended to increase from the lowest at 0° to the maximum at 45°, from which it again decreased to a mid-value at 90° for all materials. The weld line strength reduced significantly for the brittle materials, whereas the ductile materials experienced a much smaller reduction. The three weld line cases failed at similar stresses, while having different stiffness.

O uso de fibra de aço como reforço no concreto tem sido objeto de várias pesquisas recentes. Com o surgimento do concreto autoadensável reforçado com fibras, a fluidez do concreto aumenta a possibilidade de orientação das fibras na etapa de concretagem, o que pode trazer alterações significativas no comportamento mecânico do concreto endurecido. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a influência das condições de moldagem sobre a resistência residual pós-fissuração de elementos planos moldados com concreto autoadensável reforçados com fibra de aço. Também foi objetivo deste trabalho verificar previamente a combinação de ensaios reológicos com métodos convencionais para controle e caracterização do concreto autoadensável no estado fresco. A caracterização do concreto foi feita com reometria rotacional, caixa-L e espalhamento. Os resultados apontam que o estudo da reologia do concreto é desejável e a combinação dos ensaios de reologia com ensaios convencionais pode trazer mais informações sobre o efeito da adição de fibras. Foram realizados ensaios de punção de placas para avaliar o comportamento mecânico de elementos planos produzidos com concreto lançado em posições distintas. A confirmação da orientação preferencial das fibras como causa da diferença de comportamento foi realizada através de informações obtidas com os ensaios indutivo e Double Edge Wedge Splitting (DEWS) realizados em testemunhos extraídos de placas moldadas sob as mesmas condições. Além disso, comprovou-se que a orientação preferencial gerada pelas condições de lançamento do concreto pode influenciar significativamente na resistência pós-fissuração de elementos estruturais planos. / The use of steel fiber as reinforcement in concrete has been the subject of several recent studies. With the development of self-compacting fiber reinforced concrete, the fluidity of the material could increase the possibility of orientation of fibers during the casting process. That condition could bring significant changes in the mechanical behavior of hardened fiber reinforced concrete. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the conditions of casting on the post-cracking residual strength of flat elements molded with self-compacting concrete reinforced with steel fibers. It was also an objective of this work verify previously the combination of rheological tests with conventional methods in order to control and characterize the self-compacting concrete in the fresh state. The characterization of the concrete in fresh state was made with rotational rheometer, L-box and spreading tests. The results showed that the study of the concrete rheology is desirable and combination of rheological tests with conventional testing can provide more information about the effect of fiber addition. The evaluation of the mechanical behavior of flat elements produced under different positions of casting was conducted through test panels submitted to punching loading. The confirmation of the orientation of the fibers as a cause of the difference in the behavior was accomplished through information obtained from the inductive and DEWS tests performed on extracted cores of panels molded under the same conditions. Furthermore, the preferred orientation caused by the concrete flow significant influence on the post-cracking strength of the structural flat elements was shown. The tests carried out with extracted cores endorsed the conclusion that the cause of performance variation is fundamentally linked to the preferred orientation, which is a result of the casting procedure.

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is a new magnetic resonance imaging modality capable of producing quantitative maps of microscopic natural displacements of water molecules that occur in brain tissues as part of the physical diffusion process. This technique has become a powerful tool in the investigation of brain structure and function because it allows for in vivo measurements of white matter fiber orientation. The application of DTI in clinical practice requires specialized processing and visualization techniques to extract and represent acquired information in a comprehensible manner. Tracking techniques are used to infer patterns of continuity in the brain by following in a step-wise mode the path of a set of particles dropped into a vector field. In this way, white matter fiber maps can be obtained. / La imatge amb tensor de difusió (DTI) és una nova modalitat de ressonància magnètica capaç de generar mapes del desplaçament a nivell microscòpic de l’aigua a dins del teixits del cervell com a part del procés físic de la difusió. Aquesta tècnica ha esdevingut una important eina en la investigació de les estructures i funcions cerebrals perquè ens permet tenir dades in vivo de l’orientació de les fibres de matèria blanca. Per aplicar el DTI en la pràctica clínica cal extreure i representar la informació de forma entenedora aplicant tècniques i processos de visualització especialitzats. Es poden utilitzar tècniques de tractografia per tal de trobar patrons de continuïtat dins del cervell, a partir de fer el seguiment pas a pas del camí seguit per un conjunt de partícules que es deixen en un camp vectorial. D’aquesta forma és com s’obtenen els mapes de fibres de matèria blanca.

Werkstoffe auf Basis duroplastischer Harze besitzen exzellente Gebrauchseigenschaften für viele Bereiche des industriellen Einsatzes. Vor allem durch die Spritzgießverarbeitung rieselfähiger duroplastischer Formmassen entsteht ein hohes Substitutionspotential gegenüber Bauteilen aus Metallen oder Hochleistungsthermoplasten. Jedoch führen bestehende Erkenntnisdefizite im Prozessverständnis zu Ressentiments hinsichtlich des Einsatzes duroplastischer Werkstoffe. Ziel der Untersuchungen dieser Arbeit war die Ermittlung und Analyse der prozessinduzierten Werkstoffstruktur von spritzgegossenen technischen Phenolharzformteilen. Dabei wurden zum einen das Füllen der Werkzeugkavität und die sich ausbildende Faserorientierung untersucht und zum anderen die sich während des Temperns verändernde chemische Struktur. Anhand von Platten- sowie Zugprüfkörpern wurden sowohl beim Spritzgießen als auch beim Tempern Parametervariationen durchgeführt und die jeweils resultierende Werkstoffstruktur sowie deren Einfluss auf die Formteileigenschaften analysiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Strömungsverhältnisse während der Werkzeugfüllung stark von den Prozessparametern und der Werkstoffzusammensetzung abhängig sind. Dadurch wird auch die Faserorientierung beeinflusst, sodass im Formteil lokal und richtungsabhängig stark unterschiedliche Eigenschaften entstehen können. Darüber hinaus konnte anhand einer alternativen Tempermethode geklärt werden, warum es beim Tempern zu einem Abfall der mechanischen Eigenschaften kommt und eine Möglichkeit zur Vermeidung gegeben werden. / Because of their excellent properties, thermosets can be applied in a bright range of industrial applications. Especially thermoset molding compounds can be processed highly effective by injection molding, which enables them to substitute metals or high performance thermoplastics. But there is a deficit in process understanding, which limits the industrial application. The objective of this work is the investigation and analysis of the process induced material structure of injection molded technical phenolic components. Therefor the filling of the cavity with the resulting fiber orientation and the chemical processes during post-curing were examined. A parameter variation with injection molded plate and tensile specimens were done and the resulting material structure and the effect on the component properties were analyzed. The results show a big influence of the process parameter and the material on the flow condition during the filling of the cavity. Thereby also the fiber orientation is affected. This leads to process-depending local and direction-depending properties. In addition, this work shows an alternative method for post-curing to avoid the decrease of mechanical properties.

O uso de fibra de aço como reforço no concreto tem sido objeto de várias pesquisas recentes. Com o surgimento do concreto autoadensável reforçado com fibras, a fluidez do concreto aumenta a possibilidade de orientação das fibras na etapa de concretagem, o que pode trazer alterações significativas no comportamento mecânico do concreto endurecido. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a influência das condições de moldagem sobre a resistência residual pós-fissuração de elementos planos moldados com concreto autoadensável reforçados com fibra de aço. Também foi objetivo deste trabalho verificar previamente a combinação de ensaios reológicos com métodos convencionais para controle e caracterização do concreto autoadensável no estado fresco. A caracterização do concreto foi feita com reometria rotacional, caixa-L e espalhamento. Os resultados apontam que o estudo da reologia do concreto é desejável e a combinação dos ensaios de reologia com ensaios convencionais pode trazer mais informações sobre o efeito da adição de fibras. Foram realizados ensaios de punção de placas para avaliar o comportamento mecânico de elementos planos produzidos com concreto lançado em posições distintas. A confirmação da orientação preferencial das fibras como causa da diferença de comportamento foi realizada através de informações obtidas com os ensaios indutivo e Double Edge Wedge Splitting (DEWS) realizados em testemunhos extraídos de placas moldadas sob as mesmas condições. Além disso, comprovou-se que a orientação preferencial gerada pelas condições de lançamento do concreto pode influenciar significativamente na resistência pós-fissuração de elementos estruturais planos. / The use of steel fiber as reinforcement in concrete has been the subject of several recent studies. With the development of self-compacting fiber reinforced concrete, the fluidity of the material could increase the possibility of orientation of fibers during the casting process. That condition could bring significant changes in the mechanical behavior of hardened fiber reinforced concrete. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the conditions of casting on the post-cracking residual strength of flat elements molded with self-compacting concrete reinforced with steel fibers. It was also an objective of this work verify previously the combination of rheological tests with conventional methods in order to control and characterize the self-compacting concrete in the fresh state. The characterization of the concrete in fresh state was made with rotational rheometer, L-box and spreading tests. The results showed that the study of the concrete rheology is desirable and combination of rheological tests with conventional testing can provide more information about the effect of fiber addition. The evaluation of the mechanical behavior of flat elements produced under different positions of casting was conducted through test panels submitted to punching loading. The confirmation of the orientation of the fibers as a cause of the difference in the behavior was accomplished through information obtained from the inductive and DEWS tests performed on extracted cores of panels molded under the same conditions. Furthermore, the preferred orientation caused by the concrete flow significant influence on the post-cracking strength of the structural flat elements was shown. The tests carried out with extracted cores endorsed the conclusion that the cause of performance variation is fundamentally linked to the preferred orientation, which is a result of the casting procedure.

Thermisch und mechanisch hoch beanspruchte Bauteile im Automobil erfordern den Einsatz hochbeständiger Werkstoffe, bei gleichzeitig niedrigen Materialkosten und effizienter Verarbeitung. Rieselfähige Phenolharzformmassen zeichnen dabei eine Werkstoffklasse aus, die aufgrund ihres Eigenschaftsprofils neue Anwendungsbereiche für einen polymeren Werkstoffeinsatz ermöglichen können. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit werden im Hinblick auf eine Bauteilentwicklung mithilfe der integrativen Simulation die Grundlagen einer ganzheitlichen Simulationskette der Prozess- und Struktursimulation von rieselfähigen Phenolharzen mit Kurz- und Langglasfaserverstärkung erarbeitet. Das auf Basis umfangreicher Prozessuntersuchungen abgeleitete Strömungsverhalten kann mithilfe des Block-/Scherströmungsmodells beschrieben werden. Die Ergebnisse der Mikrostrukturanalyse zeigen jedoch eine Orientierungsdynamik der Fasern, welche zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt mithilfe der empirischen Modelle der klassischen Spritzgießsolver nicht abgebildet werden kann. Die mikromechanische Materialmodellierung erfolgt entsprechend an der experimentell ermittelten Mikrostruktur, welche die Berücksichtigung von Faserbündelungen und -krümmungen in der mechanischen Strukturanalyse erlaubt. Das abgeleitete elastoplastische Materialmodell wird zur Vorhersage des Ermüdungsverhaltens unter harmonischer und nichtharmonischer Schwingbeanspruchung um ein zyklisches Versagensmodell erweitert, welches eine mittellast- und temperaturunabhängige Berechnung unter Berücksichtigung der Anisotropie ermöglicht. Die Validierung der statischen und schwingenden Beanspruchung erfolgt an einer einfachen Probestabgeometrie sowie einem Strukturbauteil, einem PKW-Motorträger. / Thermally and mechanically highly stressed automotive components require the use of highly resistant materials, with low material costs and efficient processing. Phenolic resin molding compounds represent a class of materials, which can open up new applications for a polymeric material use due to their property profile. In the present work, the fundamentals of a simulation chain of fluid mechanical and structural simulation of phenolic resins with short and long glass fiber reinforcement are developed, with a view to component development using integrative simulation. Based on extensive process investigations the derived flow behavior can be described using the block/ shear flow model. However, the results of microstructure analysis show a dynamic of fiber orientation, which can not be predicted at the present time using the empirical models of classical injection molding simulation. Accordingly, the micromechanical modeling is carried out at the experimentally determined microstructure. That allows the inclusion of fiber bundling and bending in the mechanical structure analysis. The derived elastoplastic material model is extended by a fatigue failure model to predict the fatigue behavior under harmonic and non-harmonic cyclic stress which allows a calculation taking into account the anisotropy, the stress ratio and the temperature. The validation of the static stress and fatigue is performed both on a simple test bar geometry and a structural component, an automotive engine bracket.

In this work, the material distribution, structure of fiber orientation and fiber attrition in sandwich and push-pull injection molded short fiber composites are investigated, regarding the effect of fiber content and processing parameters, given its direct relevance to mechanical properties. The prediction of the tensile strength of conventional, sandwich and push-pull injection molded short fiber composites are derived by an analytical method of modified rule of mixtures as a function of the area fraction between skin and core layers. The effects of fiber length and fiber orientation on the tensile strength are studied in detail. Modeling of the specialized injection molding processes have been developed and performed with the simulation program in order to predict the material distribution and the fiber orientation state. The secondorder orientation tensor (a11) approach is used to describe and calculate the local fiber orientation state. The accuracy of the model prediction is verified by comparing with corresponding experimental measurements to gain a further basic understanding of the melt flow induced fiber orientation during sandwich and push-pull injection molding processes.