Amorphous alloys possess attractive combinations of mechanical properties (high elastic limit, ~2%, high fracture toughness, 20-50 MPa.m1/2, etc.) and exhibit mechanical behavior that is different, in many ways, from that of the crystalline metals and alloys. However, fundamental understanding of the deformation and fracture mechanisms in amorphous alloys, which would allow for design of better metallic glasses, has not been established on a firm footing yet. The objective of this work is to understand the deformation and fracture mechanisms of amorphous materials at various length scales and make connections with the macroscopic properties of glasses. Various experimental techniques were employed to study the macroscopic behavior and atomistic simulations were conducted to understand the mechanisms at the nano level. Towards achieving these objectives, we first study the toughness of a Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG), Vitreloy-1, as a function of the free volume, which was varied by recourse to structural relaxation of the BMG through sub-Tg annealing treatment. Both isothermal annealing at 500 K (0.8Tg) for up to 24 h and isochronal annealing for 24 h in the temperature range of 130 K (0.65Tg) to 530 K (0.85Tg) were conducted and the impact toughness, Γ, values were measured. Results show severe embrittlement, with losses of up to 90% in Γ, with annealing. The variation in Γ with annealing time, ta, was found to be similar to that observed in the enthalpy change at the glass transition, ΔH, with ta, indicating that the reduction of free volume due to annealing is the primary mechanism responsible for the loss in Γ with annealing. Having established the connection between sub-atomic length scales (free volume) and macroscopic response (toughness), we investigated further the affects of relaxation on intermediate length scale behavior, namely deformation induced by shear bands, by employing instrumented indentation techniques. While the Vickers nano-indentation response of the as-cast and annealed glasses do not show any significant difference, spherical indentation response shows reduced shear band activity in the annealed BMG. Further, relatively high indentation strain was observed to be necessary for shear band initiation in the annealed glass, implying an increased resistance for the nucleation of shear bands when the BMG is annealed. In the absence of microstructural features that allow for establishment of correlation between properties and the structure, we resort to atomistic modeling to gain further understanding of the deformation mechanisms in amorphous alloys. In particular, we focus on the micromechanisms of strain accommodation including crystallization and void formation during inelastic deformation of glasses. Molecular dynamics simulations on a single component system with Lennard-Jones-like atoms suggest that a softer short range interaction between atoms favors crystallization. Compressive hydrostatic strain in the presence of a shear strain promotes crystallization whereas a tensile hydrostatic strain was found to induce voids. The deformation subsequent to the onset of crystallization includes partial re-amorphization and recrystallization, suggesting important mechanisms of plastic deformation in glasses. Next, a study of deformation induced crystallization is conducted on two component amorphous alloys through atomistic simulations. The resistance of a binary glass to deformation-induced-crystallization (deformation stability) is found to increase with increasing atomic size ratio. A new parameter called “atomic stiffness” (defined by the curvature of the inter-atomic potential at the equilibrium separation distance) is introduced and examined for its role on deformation stability. The deformation stability of binary glasses is found to increase with increasing atomic stiffness. For a given composition, the internal energies of binary crystals and glasses are compared and it is found that the energy of glass remains approximately constant for a wide range of atomic size ratios unlike crystals in which the energy increases with increasing atomic size ratio. This study uncovers the similarities between deformation and thermal stabilities of glasses and suggests new parameters for predicting highly stable glass compositions.

We propose a hypothesis and a numerical model for the formation of branching plagioclase textures visible at both macroscopic (∼cm to ∼m) and microscopic scale within melagabbro of the Isle of Rum, Scotland, based on macroscopic, microscopic observations and relevant geological history. The plagioclase crystals are typically linked as twins and form meshes of planar stellate structures (m-scale) with a large range in geometrical organization from patchy to radiating. Evidence of macroscopic crystal aggregation and alignment is attributed to interfacial free energy minimization at the microscopic scale during growth. Accordingly, a binary immiscible Lattice Boltzmann model was developed to simulate diffusion of simplified plagioclase in the melt phase. Isothermal phase transitions modelled via first order chemical reactions are subsequently coupled with stochastic dynamics at the crystal growth front to simulate energy minimization processes including twinning during crystallization in an igneous environment. The solid phase and the liquid phase are coupled with a temporal flexibility that sets the overall ratio between the rate of diffusion and chemical enrichment in the liquid state and the rate of crystallization. The parameter space of the model is explored extensively, followed by a reasonable transcription of physical parameters and an estimation of other parameters to construct realistic simulation scenarios yielding synthetic plagioclase stellates. The results are presented, analyzed and discussed. They appear to be in reasonable qualitative agreement with observations, and several aspects of the natural stellates such as the stellate spacing and long continuous stretches of plagioclase with epitaxial junctions seem to be in reasonable quantitative agreement with observations.

Coal seam gas has been recognised as a new, potential energy resource in New Zealand. Exploration and assessment programmes carried out by various companies have evaluated the resource and indicated that this unconventional gas may form a part of New Zealand's future energy supply. This study has delineated some of the controls between coal properties and gas content in coal seams in selected New Zealand locations. Four coal cores, one from Huntly (Eocene), two from Ohai (Cretaceous) and one from Greymouth (Cretaceous), have been sampled and analysed in terms of gas content and coal properties. Methods used include proximate, sulphur and calorifc value analyses; ash constituent determination; rank assessment; macroscopic analysis; mineralogical analysis; maceral analysis; and gas analyses (desorption, adsorption, gas quality and gas isotopes). Coal cores varied in rank from sub-bituminous B-A (Huntly); sub-bituminous C-A (Ohai); and high volatile bituminous A (Greymouth). All locations contained high vitrinite content (~85 %) with overall relatively low mineral matter observed in most samples. Mineral matter consisted of both detrital grains (quartz in matrix material) and infilling pores and fractures (clays in fusinite pores; carbonates in fractures). Average gas contents were 1.6 m3/t in the Huntly core, 4.7 m3/t in the Ohai cores, and 2.35 m3/t in the Greymouth core. The Ohai core contained more gas and was more saturated than the other cores. Carbon isotopes indicated that the Ohai gas composition was more mature, containing heavier 13C isotopes than either the Huntly or Greymouth gas samples. This indicates the gas was derived from a mixed biogenic and thermogenic source. The Huntly and Greymouth gases appear to be derived from a biogenic (by CO2 reduction) source. The ash yield proved to be the dominant control on gas volume in all locations when the ash yield was above 10 %. Below 10 % the amount of gas variation is unrelated to ash yield. Although organic content had some influence on gas volume, associations were basin and /or rank dependant. In the Huntly core total gas content and structured vitrinite increased together. Although this relationship did not appear in the other cores, in the Ohai SC3 core lost gas and fusinite are associated with each other, while desmocollinite (unstructured vitrinite) correlated positively with residual gas in the Greymouth core. Although it is generally accepted that higher rank coals will have higher adsorption capacities, this was not seen in this data set. Although the lowest rank coal (Huntly) contains the lowest adsorption capacity, the highest adsorption capacity was not seen in the highest rank coal (Greymouth), but in the Ohai coal instead. The Ohai core acted like a higher rank coal with respect to the Greymouth coal, in terms of adsorption capacity, isotopic signatures and gas volume. Two hypothesis can be used to explain these results: (1) That a thermogenically derived gas migrated from down-dip of the SC3 and SC1 drill holes and saturated the section. (2) Rank measurements (e.g. proximate analyses) have a fairly wide variance in both the Greymouth and Ohai coal cores, thus it maybe feasible that the Ohai cores may be higher rank coal than the Greymouth coal core. Although the second hypothesis may explain the adsorption capacity, isotopic signatures and the gas volume, when the data is plotted on a Suggate rank curve, the Ohai coal core is clearly lower rank than the Greymouth core. Thus, pending additional data, the first hypothesis is favoured.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 LEAL_Mariana_2016.pdf: 33531179 bytes, checksum: 79338822f2cee7514132a1426bb9d6ee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Water is one of the most abundant natural resources on the planet, but at the same time is becoming scarce in both quantity and quality in many regions, causing numerous conflicts. The watershed must be a permeable environment, where water infiltrates the soil and reaches the water table and then can be distributed abundant and continuously. Knowledge of the physical and biological characteristics of the basin influencing the handling and consequently the production of water. This study aimed to characterize the Itanguá watershed to support the management of the National Capão Bonito Forest, SP for conservation of water. This dissertation was divided into chapters: chapter 1 contextualized the issues relevant to this study, in the form of bibliographic review, chapter 2 discussed the hydro-environmental characterization of the basin, chapter 3 identified the vulnerability of Itangua watershed to the floods and the areas to be reforested in the permanent preservation areas, chapter 4 identified the priority areas for soil and water conservation and chapter 5 provides a general conclusion. The first results indicated that 60% of the sources analyzed in situ, were characterized as point while the others were diffuse and according to macroscopic evaluation, 13% of the sources were considered with great, 80% good and 7% with reasonable conservation state. The main negative environmental impacts observed were the presence of both exotic species such as: Boar (Sus scrofa) and Pinus spp. and the absence of native vegetation in the area of permanent preservation. The morphometric analysis showed that the Itanguá watershed is an important site for the conservation of water resources by having more elongated and low tendency to form flooding. Were also found nine different priorities classes of soil conservation practices implementation and six classes for forest restoration in permanent preservation area of waterways. The results provided a characterization of the basin Itanguá and important information, since they contribute to the Flona the management plan of Capão Bonito. All methods used in the study were satisfactory to achieve the proposed purpose. / A água é um dos recursos naturais mais abundantes no planeta, mas que ao mesmo tempo está se tornando escasso tanto em quantidade como em qualidade em diversas regiões, ocasionando inúmeros conflitos. A bacia hidrográfica deve ser um ambiente permeável, onde a água infiltra no solo e alcança o lençol freático para depois ser distribuída de maneira abundante e contínua. O conhecimento das características físicas e biológicas da bacia influencia no manejo e, consequentemente, na produção de água. Desta forma, este trabalho teve por objetivo a caracterização da bacia do Itanguá como suporte à gestão da Floresta Nacional de Capão Bonito, SP, visando à conservação da água. Essa dissertação foi dividida em capítulos, sendo que o capítulo 1 contextualizou os temas pertinentes à realização desse estudo, na forma de revisão bibliográfica, o capítulo 2 abordou a caracterização hidroambiental da bacia, o capítulo 3 avaliou a vulnerabilidade da bacia a enchentes e as áreas que necessitam ser reflorestadas, o capítulo 4 identificou as áreas prioritárias à conservação de solo e água e o capítulo 5 apresentou uma conclusão geral. Os primeiros resultados indicaram que 60% das nascentes analisadas in loco, foram caracterizadas como pontuais enquanto que as demais foram difusas e de acordo com a avaliação macroscópica, 13% das nascentes foram consideradas com ótimo, 80% com bom e 7% com razoável estado de conservação. Os principais impactos ambientais negativos observados foram a presença de espécies exóticas tanto animal como vegetal: Javali (Sus scrofa) e Pinus spp. e a ausência de vegetação nativa na área de preservação permanente dos cursos d’água. A análise morfométrica apontou que a bacia do Itanguá é um local importante para a conservação dos recursos hídricos por apresentar forma mais alongada e baixa tendência a enchentes e ao partir da análise do uso e cobertura da terra foi possível identificar quais os locais que precisam ser reflorestados na área de preservação permanente. Foram ainda encontradas nove diferentes classes de prioridades para a implantação de práticas conservacionistas de solo e seis classes para a restauração florestal na área de preservação permanente dos cursos d’água. Os resultados obtidos proporcionaram a caracterização da bacia do Itanguá e a obtenção de importantes informações, uma vez que contribuem com o Plano de Manejo da Flona de Capão Bonito. Todas as metodologias utilizadas no trabalho foram satisfatórias para alcançar os objetivos propostos.

Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse, qui s’inscrivent dans le cadre du projet franco-allemand DSS_Evac_Logistic, visent à proposer des méthodes permettant de calculer des plans d’évacuation macroscopiques d’une ville lors d’une catastrophe majeure. Deux problèmes d’évacuations sont considérés dans cette thèse : le problème d’évacuation par bus et le problème d’évacuation par bus et voitures. Le problème d’évacuation par bus a pour objectif de définir un plan d’évacuation afin de mettre à l’abri les évacués. Dans cette thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés à l’étude de trois versions du problème d’évacuation par bus. La première version est monocritère où nous cherchons à minimiser la date de fin d’évacuation. Puis, dans le second problème et afin d’assurer la sécurité des évacués, nous avons considéré une version bicritère qui généralise le cas monocritère, en incluant le risque encouru lors de l’évacuation des personnes. Les deux critères à minimiser sont la date de fin d’évacuation et le risque. La troisième version est une version robuste bicritère qui permet d’appréhender l’incertitude sur les données. Le but est de minimiser à la fois la date de fin d’évacuation et les modifications apportées sur une solution, de sorte qu’elle soit réalisable pour n’importe quel scénario de données. Pour résoudre ces problèmes d’évacuation par bus, nous avons proposé des méthodes exactes et des méthodes heuristiques. / The work presented in this thesis, which is a part of the Franco-German project DSS_Evac_Logistic, aims at proposing methods to calculate macroscopic evacuation plans for mid-size towns after a tremendous disaster. Two evacuation problems have been tackled in this thesis : the bus evacuation problem and bus-and-vehicle evacuation problem. The bus evacuation problem aims at calculating an evacuation plan to relocate evacuees outside the endangered area. In this thesis, we consider three versions of the bus evacuation problem. The first one is a monocriterion problem, where the objective is to minimize the maximum evacuation time. In order to guarantee the safety of evacuees, we have considered a bicriteria problem, which is a generalization of the monocriterion version, in which we take into consideration the risk exposure of the evacuees. Consequently, the bicriteria problem is solved by minimizing the total evacuation time and the risk. The third version is a bicriteria robust version because most of the planning data is subject to uncertainty. The goal is to minimize both the evacuation time and the vulnerability of the schedule that is subject to different evacuation circumstances. To solve all the versions of the bus evacuation problem, we have developed exact solutions based on mathematical formulation to address small instances and heuristic solutions to deal with larger instances.

Trois systèmes ternaires (SAS, BAS et ZAS) ont été étudiés dans le cadre de la thèse. Les principaux objectifs étaient l’élaboration et la caractérisation de verres aluminosilicatés de Sr, Ba et Zn peu étudiés auparavant. Une étude systématique a été réalisée sur des aluminosilicates vitreux et dans certains cas sur des aluminosilicates fondus avec différents rapports MO/Al₂O₃ (M = Sr, Ba, Zn) et SiO₂/Al₂O₃. Les compositions étudiées couvrent une partie significative des diagrammes ternaires (des silicates aux verres peralumineux, des compositions pauvres en silice à celles riches en silice). Cela a permis d'accroître nos connaissances sur les domaines de vitrification de ces systèmes. Afin d’obtenir des informations sur la structure et les propriétés macroscopiques des verres SAS, BAS et ZAS, une approche multi-technique a été mise en place. Une telle approche permet d’avoir une vue d’ensemble sur les systèmes étudiés et de trouver des origines nano- à microscopiques aux propriétés macroscopiques. La spectroscopie de résonance magnétique nucléaire, la diffractométrie de neutrons et la spectroscopie Raman ont été utilisées au cours de la thèse afin de sonder l'échelle à courte et à moyenne distance. Les propriétés macroscopiques mesurées ont été : la densité, la viscosité et la température de transition vitreuse. Les données issues de cette thèse permettent une meilleure compréhension des changements de structures et des propriétés macroscopiques des verres aluminosilicatés produits par les variations de MO/Al₂O₃ ou SiO₂/Al₂O₃, ou par la nature des cations non-formateurs de réseau. / Three ternary systems (SAS, BAS and ZAS) have been investigated within the framework of the PhD thesis. The main goals were the elaboration and characterization of previously poorly studied Sr, Ba and Zn aluminosilicate glasses. A systematic study has been carried out on glasses and in some cases on melts with various MO/Al₂O₃ (M = Sr, Ba, Zn) and SiO₂/Al₂O₃ ratios. The compositions studied cover a significant part of the ternary diagrams (from silicates to peraluminous glasses, from silica-poor to silica-rich compositions). This allowed expanding our knowledge of the vitrification domains in these systems. In order to obtain information on the structure and macroscopic properties of SAS, BAS and ZAS glasses, a multi-technique approach has been implemented. Such approach allows having a broad view on the systems and finding nano- to microscopic origins of macroscopic properties. The techniques used during the thesis probe short- (NMR, ND) to medium-range (Raman) scale and among the properties studied were density, viscosity and glass transition temperature. The data resulting from this thesis provides a better understanding of the changes in the structure and macroscopic properties of the aluminosilicate glasses produced by variations in MO/Al₂O₃ or SiO₂/Al₂O₃, or by the nature of non-network forming cation.

Vegetable oil methyl esters obtained by transesterification of vegetable oils are considered to be suitable alternative fuels for diesel engines. However, higher viscosity, surface tension and boiling temperatures of biodiesels may adversely affect spray characteristics as compared to those of diesel. Thus, spray characteristics of Jatropha Methyl Ester (JME) are studied by comparing them to those of diesel in a high-pressure chamber with optical access to simulate the actual in-cylinder conditions. Also, the effect of inner-nozzle cavitation on JME and diesel sprays is studied by utilizing two nozzles, one with sharp entry-radius and the other with larger entry-radius. Finally, spray characteristics of surrogate fuels such as n-dodecane and n-hexadecane are also studied. The first part of the work concerning precise measurements of inner-nozzle geometry revealed that one of the nozzles has a hole diameter of 190-µm and entry-radius of around 70-µm, while the other has a hole diameter of 208-µm and entry-radius of around 10-µm. Injection rate-shape and coefficient of discharge for JME and diesel flow through the two nozzles were then measured. It was observed that while the coefficients of discharge (Cd) are almost identical for JME and diesel, the nozzle with entry radius of 10-µm exhibited around 20% lower Cd than that of the entry-radius of 70-µm. This observation coupled with insight from complementary CFD simulations of inner-nozzle flow showed that the lower Cd of the nozzle with entry-radius of 10-µm could be attributed to inner-nozzle cavitation. The second part of the work involved measurement of non-evaporating spray characteristics including spray-tip penetration, spray-cone angle and droplet size measurement under realistic operating conditions using techniques such as Shadowgraphy and Particle/Droplet Imaging Analysis (PDIA). The non-evaporating spray of the fuels are studied by injecting them using a common-rail fuel injection system into the high-pressure chamber maintained at room temperature. Experimental results show that JME is associated with a slightly faster spray-tip penetration and narrow spray-cone angle indicating inferior spray atomization which is confirmed by around 5% larger droplet sizes. Slower spray-tip penetration, wider spray-cone angle and around 5% smaller droplet sizes are observed for the spray from the cavitating nozzle. Thus, the inner nozzle cavitation is observed to improve the atomization of diesel and JME sprays. The differences in spray characteristics of JME and diesel reduce as the injection pressure increases. The spray-tip penetrations of both surrogates are observed to almost match that of diesel. The third part of the work involved measurements of evaporating spray liquid length, vapour penetration and spread angle for JME, diesel and surrogates at conditions of 50 bar chamber pressure and 900 K temperature. It is observed that the JME exhibits around 16% longer liquid length than that of diesel. The liquid length of n-dodecane is significantly lower than that of diesel and liquid length of n-hexadecane is around 20% higher than that of n-dodecane mimicking the trend of JME and diesel. The liquid length of n-hexadecane is very close to that of diesel at all the three test conditions. Interestingly, the vapour penetration and spread angle for all the fuels is observed to be almost identical. As the cold spray and evaporating spray characteristics of n-hexadecane match well with those of diesel, n-hexadecane can be chosen as a pure component surrogate for diesel. Finally, an analytical model for predicting the spray vapour penetration is assessed with the experimentally-observed trends of penetration and spray spread angle. The model indicated that the effect of fuel density variation is compensated by the corresponding variation in injection velocity for a given injection pressure to result in a similar vapour penetration. Overall, the present work, in addition to studying the effect of fuel physical properties and cavitation on sprays, has generated a comprehensive experimental database on non-evaporating and evaporating sprays of biodiesel, diesel, and pure component surrogates, which would aid significantly in validation of CFD simulations.

Les hélicoptères sont le siège de comportements dynamiques difficiles à maîtriser et récurrents en phase de conception. Ces comportements sont essentiellement liés à des couplages mal maîtrisés entre certains sous-systèmes. Un état de l'art sur les pratiques de modélisation existantes met en évidence un manque de prise en compte des interactions énergétiques entre sous-systèmes, rendant difficile l'analyse et la maîtrise de ces phénomènes et conduisant à des solutions ponctuelles, sans capitalisation possible des méthodes mises en œuvre. Ces travaux offrent une introduction à une approche de représentation multiphysique et multiniveau, complémentaire aux approches existantes, offrant une vision énergétique et structurelle pour la maîtrise de la dynamique des systèmes tels que les hélicoptères. Une réflexion sur les outils de représentation existants a conduit au choix du bond graph (BG), du multibond graph (MBG) et de la Représentation Energétique Macroscopique (REM) en tant qu'outils complémentaires pour la modélisation et la commande des systèmes multiphysiques multicorps. Une analyse énergétique d'hélicoptère a conduit à la proposition d'une description macroscopique basée sur le MBG à mots, complétée par deux autres niveaux détaillant le modèle MBG du sous-système rotor-fuselage. Les hypothèses de modélisation sont choisies de manière à reproduire les conditions d'apparition du phénomène de résonance air, phénomène de couplage connu sur les hélicoptères. Cette étude met en évidence le potentiel des représentations énergétiques en application aux hélicoptères et ouvre de nombreuses perspectives, tant pour l'analyse des appareils existants que pour la conception d'aéronefs innovants. / Rotorcraft are complex systems and are thus sources of recurring (i.e. for many new design projects) and poorly understood problems. Considering a specific phenomenon, implying interactions between many subsystems, the analysis of the system from a global but "sufficiently" detailed point of view becomes necessary. Current global modeling methodologies are mainly based on a subsystem-by-subsystem approach and the knowledge of their interactions is insufficient. This work proposes an introduction to a multiphysic and multilevel representation, complementary to existing modeling approaches, offering an energetic and structural view to support analysis and control of rotorcraft. A first study leads to the choice of, the bond graph (BG), the multibond graph (MBG) and the Energetic Macroscopic Representation (EMR) as complementary multiphysic tools for the modeling and control of multiphysic and multibody systems. Then, an energetic analysis of helicopter dynamics is presented and a global energetic and macroscopic representation, using the word bond graph, is proposed. After that, the MBG is used for rotor-fuselage modeling in order to reproduce the air resonance phenomenon. This work shows the potential of energetic representations on rotorcraft and opens many perspectives, not only for the analysis of the existing rotorcraft, but also for the design of innovative rotorcraft.

La thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre du projet GENOME « Gestion Optimisée de l'Energie » dont l'enjeu majeur est la conception d'un avion plus électrique. L'augmentation de l'efficacité énergétique et de la compacité des systèmes électriques de ces avions entraîne de fortes sollicitations en température. Ces sollicitations sont liées à la compacité des systèmes (réduction de masse et de volume) ainsi qu'à leur localisation par rapport aux sources chaudes (réacteur d'avion par exemple). De ce fait, les matériaux magnétiques des nouveaux convertisseurs électriques doivent pouvoir fonctionner sous des conditions de hautes températures, supérieures à 200°C. Il s'agit du polycristallin FeCoV dédié à la fabrication des tôles du stator et du rotor des génératrices rapides (situées à proximité des réacteurs) et le nanocristallin FeCuNuSiB dédié à la conception des inductances et transformateurs des convertisseurs statiques. Ce manuscrit s'intéresse à l'étude du vieillissement thermique de ces deux familles de matériaux magnétiques. Ces matériaux, fournis par la société APERAM, se déclinent sous plusieurs nuances et finitions. L'étude du vieillissement consiste en l'application de plusieurs essais de vieillissement continus sous différentes températures (jusqu'à 300 °C pour les FeCoV et 240 °C pour les nanocristallins). Plusieurs grandeurs macroscopiques magnétiques, électriques et mécaniques (pour les FeCoV) sont mesurées à chaque intervalle de vieillissement. Grâce à ces mesures macroscopiques et à des mesures complémentaires effectuées à l'échelle microscopique, des analyses sont faites et des hypothèses sont proposées afin d'expliquer les mécanismes de vieillissement de ces deux familles de matériaux et dans le but de proposer des modèles phénoménologiques fiables / The thesis takes part of the project GENOME “Gestion Optimisée de l’Energie” whose major issue is the design of the more electrical aircraft. The increase in the energy efficiency and the compactness of the electrical systems of these aircrafts lead to high temperature stresses. These thermal stresses are related to the compactness of the systems (reduction of mass and volume) as well as their location with respect to the hot sources (aircraft engine for example). Thus, the magnetic materials of the new electrical converters must be able to operate under conditions of high temperatures, above 200 °C. Typically, the FeCoV polycrystalline materials are dedicated to the fabrication of the stator and rotor sheets of the fast generators (located near the aircraft engine) and the FeCuNbSiB nanocrystalline materials are dedicated to the design of inductors and transformers of the static converters.This manuscript concerns the thermal ageing study of these two magnetic material families. These materials, supplied by the company APERAM, are available in several shades. The ageing study consists on applying several continuous ageing treatments at different temperatures (up to 300 °C for FeCoV and 240 °C for FeCuNbSiB). At each ageing step, several macroscopic properties namely: magnetic, electrical and mechanical (for the FeCoV materials) properties are measured. Using these macroscopic properties and complementary measurements carried out on a microscopic scale, analyses are made and hypotheses are proposed in order to explain the ageing mechanisms of these magnetic material families. The understanding of the magnetic ageing mechanisms is necessary towards establishing of phenomenological ageing models

On considère généralement que la fonction d’onde macroscopique décrivant un condensat de paires de fermions possède une phase parfaitement définie et immuable. En réalité, il n’existe que des systèmes de taille finie, préparés à température non nulle ; le condensat possède alors un temps de cohérence fini, même lorsque le système est isolé. Cet effet fondamental, crucial pour les applications qui exploitent la cohérence macroscopique, restait très peu étudié.Dans cette thèse, nous relions le temps de cohérence à la dynamique de phase du condensat, et nous montrons par une approche microscopique que la dérivée temporelle de l’opérateur phase ˆθ0 est proportionnelle à un opérateur potentiel chimique qui inclut les deux branches d’excitations du gaz : celle, fermionique, de brisure des paires et celle, bosonique, de mise en mouvement de leur centre de masse. Pour une réalisation donnée de l’énergie E et du nombre de particules N, la phase évolue aux temps longs comme −2μmc(E,N)t/~ où μmc(E,N) est le potentiel chimique microcanonique ; les fluctuations de E et de N d’une réalisation à l’autre conduisent alors à un brouillage balistique de la phase, et à une décroissance gaussienne de la fonction de cohérence temporelle avec un temps caractéristique ∝ N1/2. En l’absence de telles fluctuations, la décroissance est au contraire exponentielle avec un temps de cohérence qui diverge linéairement en N à cause du mouvement diffusif de ˆθ0 dans l’environnement des modes excités. Nous donnons une expression explicite de ce temps caractéristique à bassetempérature dans le cas d’une branche d’excitation bosonique convexe lorsque les phonons interagissent via les processus 2 ↔ 1 de Beliaev-Landau. Enfin, nous proposons des méthodes permettant de mesurer avec un gaz d’atomes froids chaque contribution au temps de cohérence / It is generally assumed that a condensate of paired fermions at equilibrium is characterized by a macroscopic wavefunction with a well-defined, immutable phase. In reality, all systems have a finite size and are prepared at non-zero temperature ; the condensate has then a finite coherence time, even when the system is isolated. This fundamental effect, crucial for applicationsusing macroscopic coherence, was scarcely studied. Here, we link the coherence time to the condensate phase dynamics, and show using a microscopic theory that the time derivative of the condensate phase operator ˆθ0 is proportional to a chemical potential operator which includes both the fermionic pair-breaking and the bosonic pair-motion excitation branches.For a given realization of the number of particle N and of the energy E, the phase evolves at long times as −2μmc(E,N)t/~ where μmc(E,N) is the microcanonical chemical potential ; fluctuations of N and E from one realization to the other then lead to a ballistic spreading of the phase and to a Gaussian decay of the temporal coherence function with a characteristictime ∝ N1/2. On the contrary, in the absence of energy and number fluctuations, the decay of the temporal coherence function is exponential with a characteristic time scaling as N due to the diffusive motion of ˆθ0 in the environnement created by the excited modes. We give an explict expression of this characteristic time at low temperature in the case where the bosonicbranch is convex and the phonons undergo 2 ↔ 1 Beliaev-Landau process. Finally, we propose methods to measure each contribution to the coherence time using ultracold atoms.