Pierre-Yves Le Gac

Analysis of the moisture effect on the mechanical behaviour of an adhesively bonded joint under proportional multi-axial loads

The objective of the study is to identify the 3D behaviour of an adhesive in an assembly, and to take into account the effect of ageing in a marine environment. To that end, three different tests were employed. Gravimetric analyses were used to determine the water diffusion kinetics in the adhesive. Bulk tensile tests were performed to highlight the effects of humid ageing on the adhesive behaviour. Modified Arcan tests were performed for several ageing times to obtain the experimental database which was necessary to identify constitutive models. A Mahnken–Schlimmer type model was determined for the unaged state according to a procedure developed in a previous study. This identification used inverse techniques. It was based on the unaged modified Arcan results and on a coupling between an optimisation routine and finite-element analysis. Then, a global inverse identification procedure was developed. Its aim was to relate the unaged parameters to the moisture concentration and overcome the difficulties usually associated with ageing of bonded assemblies in a humid environment: a non-uniformity of the stress state and a gradient of mechanical properties in the adhesive. This procedure was similar to the one used in the first part but needed modified Arcan results for several ageing times. It also required an initial assumption for the evolution of the Mahnken–Schlimmer parameters with the moisture concentration.

Marine Ageing Behaviour of New Environmentally Friendly Composites

In recent years several new materials have been proposed for marine applications. These include liquid infusible acrylics, basalt fibre and plant fibre-reinforced composites, and thermoplastic polyamide composites. In order to assess the long-term durability of such materials accelerated tests are used but the validity of this approach, widely accepted for traditional marine composites, must be checked. This presentation will describe results from ageing tests on these four materials, specifically developed for particular applications: acrylic composites and basalt and flax fibre composites for surface structures, and carbon-reinforced polyamides for deep sea pressure vessels.

Prediction of Mechanical Behaviour of a Bulk Epoxy Adhesive in a Marine Environment

ABSTRACT This article describes an approach to predict the behaviour of an epoxy adhesive in bulk form in a marine environment. First, the material, the experimental conditions and the predictive framework are described. Then the experimental results are presented, which indicate that the effects on yield stress of either a uniform water profile or elevated testing temperature can be shown to be equivalent when plotted versus T-Tg. Moreover, a discussion of these results shows how they can be used to predict changes in the mechanical properties of the adhesive. Prediction results for yield stress are in good agreement when they are compared with experimental results for the case of a water profile gradient, in order to evaluate the relevance and limitations of the model.

Prediction of mechanical property loss in polyamide during immersion in sea water

It is well known that the water absorption in polyamide leads to a large reduction in the mechanical properties of the polymer, which is induced by the plasticization of the amorphous phase. However, predicting such a loss in a marine environment is not straightforward, especially when thick samples are considered. This study presents a modeling study of the water absorption in polyamide 6 based on the free volume theory. Using this modeling coupled with a description of the stress yield changes with Tg, it is possible to predict the long term behavior of thick samples when immersed in sea water. Reliability of the prediction is checked by a comparison with experimental results.