Renforcement des matrices polymères et des matériaux composites par des nanoparticules

The theme of my research is the study of interactions between the manufacturing process, the microstructure and the properties of materials. Since 2004, I have focused on the incorporation of nanoparticles into polymer materials and carbon fiber reinforced composites. Several keywords summarize the backbone of my work: * measurement of the effective morphology and dispersion of nanoparticles after mechanical blending with a polymer matrix. The true characteristics of filler agglomerates after mechanical blending are rarely measured. Most studies have merely concentrated on the characteristics of elementary fillers before blending, which does not take into account possible agglomeration phenomena during blending. Numeric analysis of SEM images can provide nanoscopic and microscopic efficient information useful to explain macroscopic behavior; * microstructure modeling. Modeling of large microstructures with the ab-initio method is still very expensive in computation time. The use of continuum mechanics, at a scale well below the founding assumptions, is an alternative and relevant solution to optimize the time computation/result quality ratio; * material behavior under mechanical stress. The ultimate goal of these new materials is lighter structures. Knowing and predicting their behavior is necessary to correctly supply the designers of manufactured products integrating these materials. Mechanical tests at macroscopic scale are always the best way to determine these behavior laws. Added to this is the development of original mechanical tests adapted to these materials with new structure and properties.