Structural materials are consistent with the French national priorities, concerning the transportation systems improvements, energy consumption reduction and environment. This axis will strongly benefit from the Le Bourget Techno-Centre development, the latter being focused on aeronautics. This project will include industrials such as EADS and Eurocopter, able to federate many small companies, the ASTech competitiveness pole, others actors from the economical world (territorial collectivities, Air France Industry, Dassault services,....), and from research and education (University Paris 13, SUPMECA, in the future University Paris Diderot...). Because of more and more demanding performances, structural materials need to be studied under various thermomechanical loading conditions and environments : mechanical, physical and chemical characteristics need to be measured, sometimes simultaneously ; the modeling of their coupled properties must be developed ; and some efforts should also be put on the control of elaboration or transformation processes. Consequently, all the aspects concerning material science are present, from the elaboration to the evaluation of the life time and recycling processes, through modeling and development of characterization tools. The fact that these complementary steps can be coordinated within a single LABEX and treated simultaneously is certainly a condition of fast progress. We project to concentrate our efforts on 3 main subjects based on existing competences.
This axis mainly developed in LSPM will focus on 3 sub-topics :
Surface treatments, tribology and physico-mechanical examinations for integrity control
Although a lot of research projects inside the LABEX are concerned with surface problems (elaboration of thin films, functionalization of surfaces for various applications, ... ), the mechanical properties of these surfaces are rarely examined. LISMMA from SUP-MECA possesses a unique plateform of tribological devices, which allows simulating a wide variety of contact modes and that are used with associated models, to investigate and improve the mechanical properties of surfaces of materials and systems. This platform will be used, in connection with the expertise of ITODYS in functionalization, of LSPM in the physical characterization of thin films, and of MSC for some " thin " complex systems, to develop 3 main themes :
Advanced structural materials and coupled properties
Finely architectured materials for structural or/and functional applications : based on the existence of high level platforms concerning the elaboration, the transformation, the characterization of various materials, coupled with some expertise in multiscale modelling, it becomes naturally consistent to develop even more widely the design of new multifunctional materials and their validation through modeling ; some examples already exist within the LABEX such as the elaboration of ultrahard materials (LSPM), permanent magnets from Co nanowires (ITODYS and MSC), hybrid materials composed of soft components (foams, sprays, polymers) and inorganics components (nanoparticles, polyometallic or alkooxydes, ...) (MSC), multiferroic materials (LSPM), ..... In this field, only the imagination of the researchers can limit the extent of their work ; up to now, the efforts are mainly put on the elaboration and modeling steps. By adding some contributions on the characterization side, the LABEX will become more and more convincing in the development of industrial collaborations.
Functionalized structural materials
For all these structural materials which are asked to become " smarter ", and to resist to more and more severe environments, it becomes also essential investigating their coupled properties as well as the interaction between a given material and it environment. In the field of multi-scale modelling, some coupled properties (mechanical and thermal, magnetic, electrical,....) have already been successfully predicted in LSPM for a wide variety of materials. Some teams in MSC work on the development of porous materials that present a good capacity of reducing the vibrations or the sounds and that can be incorporated into structural materials for constructions or aeronautic applications. Also, the investigation of the behaviour of materials under severe environment (corrosion, high temperatures, Hydrogen embrittlement) is already treated in LSPM which both developed original equipments. More recently, LSPM got involved in this research and developed some FE modeling. In the context of a developing aeronautic technocenter in Le Bourget, all skills are thus gathered inside this LABEX to make significant progresses in the development of smart structural materials (with combined properties) and systems (including their surfaces), capable of resisting in extreme environments. LISMMA from SUP-MECA will be associated to a number of researches.