Franck N'Guyen

A multiscale microstructure model of carbon black distribution in rubber

The increase of observations and computational capabilities favoured the numerical simulation of microstructure to derive the effective properties of materials. Indeed, the multiscale approaches, that use homogenization techniques, enable us to estimate or to give bounds of the overall properties of heterogeneous media. In this work, the objective is to develop a three‐dimensional mathematical model of the morphology of the microstructure of rubber composite containing carbon black nano‐fillers. This multiscale model consists of a combination of some primary models that correspond to the physical scales of the microstructure. It is identified according to an original method that uses statistical moments from experimental transmission electronic microscope (TEM) image data and from numerical TEM simulations. This method leads to three‐dimensional representative simulations of microstructures that take the complex clustering effect of particles in aggregates, into account. Finally, the identified model of the morphology satisfies the experimental percolation rate of the carbon black aggregates in the material.

FE modelling of bainitic steels using crystal plasticity

Models classically used to describe the probability of brittle fracture in nuclear power plants are written on a macroscale. Physical phenomena are not naturally captured by this type of approach, so that application of these models far from their identification domain (such as temperature history, loading path) may become questionable. To improve the quality of the prediction of resistance and life time, microstructural information describing the heterogeneous character of the material and its deformation mechanisms has to be taken into consideration. The objective of this work is to propose a model able to describe local stress and strain fields in an A508 Cl3 bainitic steel. This information will then be used to introduce critical variables for multiscale failure models. The microstructure of A508 Cl3 steel is made of bainitic packets (coming from former austenitic grains), which are not randomly oriented. An accurate model must take the actual microstructure into account, in order to provide realistic local stress and strain fields. Starting from experimental observations of the bainitic microstructure (texture measurements, morphological analysis), the paper first proposes a numerical model able to produce quantitatively representative numerical aggregates, then discusses the results obtained by a finite element treatment of the aggregates involving crystal plasticity.