The dynamic response of various geological materials has been investigated through a series of plate impact experiments. The materials involved were supplied from various mines by De Beers and Rio Tinto and were generically termed: sandstone, scilified siltstone, kimberlite, quartz/feldspathic gneiss, biotite schist, amphibolite, amphibolitic gneiss, basalt and iron ore. Investigations into compressional, shear and tensional behaviour were carried out. This project was part of a larger international study to develop models for the explosive loading of rock in a mining environment. This model is known as the Hybrid Stress Blasting Model, or HSBM. For this model to be accurate and relevant to the mining process it is essential to have dynamic data on the various rock types concerned. This was the purpose of the current project. As the material data are destined for use in a computer modelling programme it was essential to attempt to develop prediction methodologies to avoid the need for expensive dynamic characterisation of any new materials encountered in the mining environment. Much of the static data provided with the materials from De Beers proved of little use in predicting behaviour, although crucially it was not possible to determine sufficient dynamic tensile strengths in this investigation to make comparisons with the De Beers data. More success was found in predicting the slope of the Hugoniot with the elastic impedance of the material (for the non-porous linear Hugoniot materials). A fairly strong trend was found, which was backed up with data from the literature. Additionally some effort at further analysis using mineral data was undertaken. Attempts at predicting the HEL were also partially successful. While no specific quantitative prediction method was found, it was noted that the HEL did seem to scale with grain size, in that the large grained materials had a lower value of the HEL (below 2 GPa) compared with the finer grained materials (around 4 GPa and above).

This work forms part of a project aimed to develop Polyamide 6,6(PA6,6)-based automotive fuel tanks. PA6,6 is a good candidate for technical applications since it possesses good thermo-mechanical properties compared to its weight. These formulations must exhibit good impermeable properties to classic gasoline, to biofuels (gasoline containing ethanol), and to water which is found in the atmosphere, while keeping good impact behavior.The scientific issues are the better understanding of PA6,6-solvent interactions in the case of a series of solvents having different sizes and polarities and also for a set of ternary mixtures composed of ethanol, toluene, and isooctane at various concentrations that model biofuels. The effect of these solvents on the glass transition temperature Tg (molecular mobility signature) was assessed. The effect of additivating or chemically-modifying PA6,6 on the impact and barrier properties of the polymer was studied.In this work, it was described how the nature of a solvent conditions its sorption and its plasticizing effect on PA6,6. It was also observed that the PA6,6 inter-chain interactions also condition the solvent sorption. Moreover, a thermodynamic approach describing the sorption and plasticizing effects of ternary mixtures in PA6,6 was considered and developed. It was also observed that PA6,6 mechanical properties depend or are related to the amorphous phase molecular mobility state.

Ce travail s’inscrit dans le projet de développement des réservoirs essence pour voitures à partir des formulations Polyamide 6,6 (PA6,6). Le PA6,6 est un bon candidat pour des applications techniques car il possède des bonnes propriétés thermomécaniques rapportés à son poids. Ces formulations doivent montrer des bonnes propriétés barrière aux essences classiques, aux biofuels (essence contenant de l’éthanol) et aussi à l’eau qui est présente dans l’atmosphère, tout en ayant une bonne tenue aux chocs.Les enjeux scientifiques sont la meilleure compréhension des interactions entre le PA6,6 et des solvants purs de polarités et tailles différentes mais aussi des mélanges ternaires composés d’éthanol, toluène et isooctane à différentes concentrations et qui modélisent les biofuels. On veut aussi étudier l’effet de ces solvants sur la température de transition vitreuse Tg qui est la signature de la mobilité moléculaire de la phase amorphe. Ensuite, l’effet de l’additivation ou de l’ajout des co-monomères sur les propriétés barrière et mécaniques, notamment les propriétés choc, a été étudié. Dans ce travail nous avons pu décrire comment la nature d’un solvant conditionne sa sorption et son effet plastifiant dans le PA6,6. On a aussi observé que la nature et les interactions interchaînes de la matrice polymère conditionnent aussi la prise en solvants. De plus, une approche thermodynamique a été proposée pour étudier et comprendre la sorption de mélanges ternaires éthanol-toluène-isooctane et leur effet plastifiant dans le PA6,6. On a aussi montré que les propriétés mécaniques du PA6,6 dépendent ou sont liées à l’état de mobilité moléculaire de la phase amorphe de ce polymère. / This work forms part of a project aimed to develop Polyamide 6,6(PA6,6)-based automotive fuel tanks. PA6,6 is a good candidate for technical applications since it possesses good thermo-mechanical properties compared to its weight. These formulations must exhibit good impermeable properties to classic gasoline, to biofuels (gasoline containing ethanol), and to water which is found in the atmosphere, while keeping good impact behavior.The scientific issues are the better understanding of PA6,6-solvent interactions in the case of a series of solvents having different sizes and polarities and also for a set of ternary mixtures composed of ethanol, toluene, and isooctane at various concentrations that model biofuels. The effect of these solvents on the glass transition temperature Tg (molecular mobility signature) was assessed. The effect of additivating or chemically-modifying PA6,6 on the impact and barrier properties of the polymer was studied.In this work, it was described how the nature of a solvent conditions its sorption and its plasticizing effect on PA6,6. It was also observed that the PA6,6 inter-chain interactions also condition the solvent sorption. Moreover, a thermodynamic approach describing the sorption and plasticizing effects of ternary mixtures in PA6,6 was considered and developed. It was also observed that PA6,6 mechanical properties depend or are related to the amorphous phase molecular mobility state.