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Les explosifs sont des matériaux qui, bien que potentiellement sensibles, sont conçus pour être stables en conditions normales, ainsi que lors de sollicitations mécaniques, chimiques ou thermiques « faibles ». Pourtant, sous sollicitations mécaniques de faible intensité, comme les impacts basse vitesse, ils peuvent réagir de manière intempestive. Les propergols, et plus particulièrement la butalite, objet de notre étude, présentent ce caractère : on observe des « réactions » pour des vitesses d'impacts inférieurs à 100 m.s-1, dont l'origine est probablement liée à l'endommagement microstructural du matériau.Dans ce contexte, le but ultime du CEA2 Gramat est d'obtenir un outil de prédiction de la vulnérabilité des matériaux énergétiques pour les impacts à basse vitesse de type tour de chute. Pour ce faire, il est essentiel de disposer de données sur la morphologie et le comportement (thermo)mécanique macroscopique du matériau considéré, de ses phases constitutives à l'échelle mésoscopique et de ses interfaces.Ainsi l'objectif de la thèse est de déterminer le type et le niveau de(s) endommagement(s) apparaissant(s) dans une « butalite inerte » suite à un impact mécanique dit « à basse vitesse » (i.e., inférieure à 100 m.s-1) réalisé à l'aide d'un dispositif de type tour de chute modifié, associant un suivi par vidéo numérique rapide et une analyse microtomographique ante- et post-essai, en étudiant le ou les phénomènes physiques à l'origine des réactions sous « faibles » sollicitations, leur évolution et leur(s) origine(s) physique(s). Les grains sont modélisés par une loi de comportement purement élastique et la matrice en PBHT est décrite par une loi visco-hyper-élastique (couplage d'une série de Prony et du modèle de Mooney-Rivlin). / Although they are potentially sensitive, energetic materials are designed to be stable under normal conditions, as well as “weak” mechanical, chemical or thermal loadings. However, under low mechanical loadings, such as low velocity impacts, they may react untimely. Propellants and especially the butalite, object of our study, show "reactions" to impact velocities below 100 m.s-1, whose origin is probably related to the material microstructural damage.In this context, the ultimate goal of CEA2 Gramat is to obtain a predicting tool for the vulnerability of energetic materials for low velocity impacts as drop weight test. So it is essential to have data on the morphology and macroscopic (thermo)mechanical behavior, its component phases at the mesoscopic scale and its interfaces.Thus, the objective of the thesis is to determine the type and the damage(s) level(s) generating in an "inert butalite", during a low velocity mechanical impact (i.e., less than 100 m.s-1), using a fast camera recording and ante- and post-test microtomographic analysis, or by studying the physical phenomena which are at the origin of reactions, their evolution and physical origin(s). Grains are represented by a purely elastic model and HTPB matrix is described by a visco-hyper-elastic model (coupling a Prony serie and Mooney-Rivlin model).

The present research aims to develop a novel technique for creation of composite riot helmet shells with reinforcing fibre continuity for better protection against low velocity impacts. In this research an innovative, simple and effective method of making a single-piece continuously textile reinforced helmet shell by vacuum bagging has been established and discussed. This technique also includes the development of solid collapsible moulding apparatus from non-woven fibres. Angle-interlock fabric due to its good mouldability, low shear rigidity and ease of production is used in this research. Several wrinkle-free single- piece composite helmet shells have been manufactured. Low-velocity impact test on the continuously reinforced helmet shells has been carried out. For this purpose an in-house helmet shell testing facility has been developed. Test rig has been designed in such a way that the impact test can be carried out at different locations at the riot helmet shell. Low-velocity impact test has been successfully conducted on the developed test rig. The practical experimentation and analysis revealed that the helmet shell performance against impact is dependent on the impact location. The helmet shell top surface has better impact protection as compared to helmet shell side and back location. Moreover, the helmet shell side is the most at risk location for the wearer. Finite Element models were created and simulated in Abaqus software to investigate the impact performance of single-piece helmet shells at different impact locations. Models parts have been designed in Rhinoceros software. Simulated results are validated by the experimental result which shows that the helmet top position is the safest position against an impact when it is compared to helmet back and helmet side positions.

Fibre reinforced composites have higher specific strength and stiffness in comparison to metals. However, composites are susceptible to impact damage resulting in degradation of mechanical properties especially compression strength. Numerous studies have been conducted to improve the impact damage tolerance of composite laminates using modified resin systems, thermoplastic matrices, 3-D fibre architectures and through thickness reinforcement. This work is primarily focussed on incorporating non dissolvable polypropylene fibres (PP) in a thermoset matrix for improving the damage tolerance. Commingling and wrapping techniques have been investigated. PP fibres have been incorporated at the preform stage and hence do not adversely affect the viscosity of the resin during infusion. The healing effect of PP fibres on impact damaged composite laminates when heating is introduced has also been studied. High velocity impact test results showed that using commingled glass/PP fibres increased the total energy absorption of composite laminates by 20% due to the extensive plastic deformation of the PP fibres and through the use of toughening mechanisms in the form of resin cracking and delamination. It has been found that PP fibres provide protection to the glass fibres during low velocity impact loading, so fewer fibre breakages occur which lead to improved residual properties compared with pristine glass laminates. Compression after impact (CAI) tests showed that the residual strength as a percentage of non-impacted strength increased with percentage of PP fibres used. For impact of 20-50J, glass/epoxy laminates retained 32 45% of their compressive strength while laminates with 7%, 13% and 18% PP fibres retained 37 50%, 42-52% and 43-60% of their compressive strength, respectively. It was also observed that glass/PP woven laminates had better compressive strength retention (62 83%) than the glass/PP non-crimp laminates (37-50%). Composite laminates with high-modulus PP fibres (Innegra) exhibited higher residual compression strengths in comparison to laminates with lower modulus PP fibres. For 15-50J impact, glass/Innegra laminates showed residual compression strength of 50 63% in comparison to 39-60%; laminates without thermoplastic fibres exhibited 33 43% residual compression strength. Modulus of thermoplastic fibres appears to be important at higher energy levels. Healing of damaged commingled laminates produced a significant reduction in the damage area and a corresponding increase in CAI strength after heating at 200ºC; CAI strength of healed laminates is about 85% of undamaged samples in comparison to 60% for non-healed samples. A novel micro-wrapping technique, developed in this work, demonstrated significant reduction in damage area (46%) in comparison to the commingling method. Core wrapped laminates had higher residual strength (43-60%) than glass laminates (33-43%). Better PP distribution in core-wrapped composites helped to decrease the PP rich areas and the impact damage did not propagate easily in comparison to commingled composites. However due to the reduction in damage area, impact energy absorption in core wrapped laminates was lower than for commingled.

Non-destructive testing (NDT) of glass-fibre reinforced polyester (GRP) composite materials has been becoming increasingly important due to their wide applications in engineering components and structures. Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) has promising potential in this context because it is a non-contact, whole-field and real-time measurement system. This potential has never been fully exploited and there is only limited knowledge and understanding available in this area. This reality constrains the wide popularity and acceptance of ESPI as a novel NDT technique. Therefore it is of considerable importance to develop an understanding of the capability of ESPI with respect to damage evaluation in GRP composite materials. The research described in this thesis is concerned with an investigation into the applicability of ESPI in the NDT of GRP composite materials. Firstly, a study was carried out to determine excitation techniques in terms of practicality and effectiveness in the ESPI system. Three categories of defects were artificially introduced in GRP composite materials, namely holes, cracks and delaminations each with different geometrical features. ESPI was then employed to evaluate the three kinds of defects individually. It has been found that cracks and holes on back surfaces can be defined when the technique is used in conjunction with thermal excitation. Internal Temperature Differential (ITD) induced fringe patterns were more efficient than External Thermal Source (ETS) induced fringe patterns with regard to detecting the presence of holes and cracks. In the case of delamination, ESPI was found to be capable of detecting the damage when used in combination with mechanical excitation originating from a force transducer hammer. The geometrical features and magnitudes of delaminations were also established as being quantifiable. The validation of ESPI as an NDT technique was carried out in an attempt to establish a better understanding of its suitability and have more confidence in its applications. Four damaged specimens were Subjected to ESPI examination in conjunction with visual inspection, ultrasonic C-scan and sectioning techniques. The geometrical features and magnitudes of damage evaluated using ESPI showed a good correlation with those evaluated by conventional techniques. Poor visibility and readability is an inherent problem associated with ESP! due to an overlapping between the noise and signal frequencies. An improvement of image quality is expected in an attempt to achieve a wide acceptance of ESPI as a novel NDT technique. It has also been demonstrated that this problem can be tackled using optical phase stepping techniques in which optical phase data can be extracted from the intensity fringes. A three-frame optical phase stepping technique was employed to produce the "wrapped" and "unwrapped" phase maps which are capable of indicating internal damage with high visibility and clarity. Finally ESPI was practically employed to evaluate damage in GRP composites introduced by quasi-static and dynamic mechanical loading. It was found that ESP! was capable of monitoring the progressive damage development of specimens subjected to incremental flexural loading. The initial elastic response, damage initiation, propagation and ultimate failure of specimens were clearly characterised by the abnormal fringe pattern variations. In a similar manner, ESPI was employed to evaluate the low velocity falling weight impact induced damage. A correlation was established between the magnitude of damage and the impact event parameters as well as the residual flexural properties.

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Face aux défis environnementaux actuels, les industriels ont mis en œuvre de nouveaux matériaux recyclables et permettant une réduction significative de la masse. Le développement de la résine thermoplastique Elium par ARKEMA s’inscrit dans cette problématique. L’utilisation de cette résine pour la fabrication de pièces composites qui peuvent être sujettes à des dommages d’impact, nécessite au préalable des études, dans le but de comprendre leurs mécanismes de ruine sous ce type de sollicitation. Ainsi, la présente thèse propose une contribution à l’analyse multi-échelle de la tenue à l’impact des composites stratifiés à base de la résine Elium. Une étude expérimentale préliminaire a permis de confirmer la meilleure résistance à l’impact des composites à matrice Elium acrylique, comparativement à celles des composites thermodurcissables conventionnels. Ensuite, les performances à l’impact des composites stratifiés ont été améliorées par l’introduction de copolymères à blocs dans la matrice. Ces derniers sont capables de former des micelles de tailles nanométriques et ainsi d’améliorer la ténacité de la matrice acrylique. Les effets de l’énergie d’impact, de la température et de la composition en nanocharges sur la réponse du matériau composite ont été analysés. Afin de proposer un outil d’aide à la prédiction de la réponse à l’impact des matériaux fibres de verre/Acrylique, deux stratégies de modélisation ont été retenues. La première modélisation (macroscopique) considère le pli tissé du stratifié comme un matériau homogène tandis que la seconde (mésoscopique) utilise une description géométrique de l’ondulation et de l’entrecroisement des torons noyés dans la résine Elium. Ces deux modèles considèrent des zones cohésives à l’interface entre les plis adjacents pour simuler le délaminage interlaminaire. Des essais de délaminage (expérimentaux et numériques) ont permis d’alimenter le modèle d’endommagement de l’interface interplis. D’autre part, des essais de caractérisation du comportement mécanique et de l’endommagement du matériau couplés à l’homogénéisation multi-échelle des matériaux par la Mécanique du Génome de Structure ont permis d’identifier les paramètres du modèle macroscopique. A l’échelle mésoscopique, le modèle géométrique a été réalisé grâce au logiciel Texgen. Ce logiciel permet d’obtenir une description approchée mais réaliste de l’ondulation des torons de fibres. La même description a servi à l’homogénéisation numérique multi-échelle des stratifiés étudiés. La simulation numérique de l’impact basse vitesse a été effectuée au moyen du logiciel d’éléments finis ABAQUS/Explicit. Les modèles de comportement du matériau ont été implémentés via la routine utilisateur VUMAT. Les résultats obtenus offrent une bonne corrélation avec les données expérimentales / In the race for light materials able of meeting modern environmental challenges, an acrylic resin (Elium) has been developed. Elium is a thermoplastic resin able to replace thermosetting matrices, which are widespread nowadays in the industrial world. The present study aims to evaluate the impact resistance and to understand the failure mechanisms of composite laminates based on acrylic matrix under impact loading. We provide a contribution to the multiscale analysis of the impact resistance of laminated composite.First, the impact resistance and the damage tolerance of the acrylic resin based composites were compared with those of conventional composites. Then, the impact performance of the laminated composites has been enhanced by adding copolymer blocks to the liquid acrylic resin. These copolymers are able to form micelles of nanometer sizes, which lead to the improvement of both the acrylic matrix fracture toughness and the impact resistance. The effects of the impact energy, temperature, and composition in nano-copolymers have also been investigated.In order to provide a numerical tool for the prediction of the impact response of the glass fiber/Acrylic laminates, two strategies have been analyzed. The first one, performed at the macroscopic scale, considers the woven ply of the laminate as homogeneous material, and the second one (at the mesoscopic scale), deals with a realistic geometrical description of the yarns undulation. Both models use cohesive zones at the interface between the adjacent plies, to simulate the delamination. For this purpose, experimental and numerical delamination tests were performed to feed the inter-ply damage model. Mechanical tests for material characterization were also performed on specimens in order to identify the ply-damage model parameters. The Mechanics of Structure Genome (MSG) and a finite element based micromechanics approaches were then conducted to evaluate the effective thermomechanical properties of the yarns and the plain woven composite laminate. The realistic topological and morphological textures of the composite were accounted through Texgen software. These numerical impact simulations were performed using the finite element software ABAQUS/Explicit. Both models were implemented through a user material subroutine VUMAT. The obtained results appear in a good agreement with the experimental data and confirm the relevance of the proposed approach.

No description available.