Thesis : Experimental and numerical study of the mechanical behavior of polymer/metal multilayer composites for ballistic protection

PhD defense : Charles FRANCART

Team : MMB

Title : Experimental and numerical study of the mechanical behavior of polymer/metal multilayer composites for ballistic protection

Abstract : The present study deals with the development of a numerical model to evaluate the ballistic performance of a polymer/metal multilayer structure sintered by SPS. The materials are an aluminum alloy 7020 and an amorphous thermoplastic poylimide which are then assembled using an epoxy resin. The  mechanical behavior of these three materials has been studied over wide ranges of strain rates (from 0.0001/s to 50,000/s) and temperatures (from -70°C to 500°C) corresponding to the extreme conditions encountered during impacts at high velocities. In order to improve the accuracy of the results, analytical approaches have been developed both for the  modeling of the  metal and for the  polymers.  After the calibration of the models, these models were implemented in ABAQUS®/Explicit (finite elements) via VUMAT subroutines in FORTRAN code. Ball impact tests at high velocities were performed on monolayer targets to validate numerical models. Numerous configurations of multilayer composites were then studied numerically and their ballistic performances have been compared.

This thesis was directed by Nadia Bahlouli and co-supervised by Saïd Ahzi, professors at the ICube Lab - University of Strasbourg.

The jury is composed of Mr LAURO Franck (rewiever), Professor at the LAMIH – University of Valenciennes, Mr RUSINEK Alexis (rewiever), Professor at the LEM3 – University of Lorraine, Mrs VERLEYSEN Patricia (examiner), Professor at the University of Ghent (Belgique), Mr RITTEL Daniel (examiner), Professor at the Technion (Israël) and DEMARTY Yaël (supervisor-examiner), Doctor at the French-German Institute of Saint-Louis (ISL).

The PhD defense, in french, will take place on Friday 13th october 2017 at 2.00pm at the ICube Lab in the street Boussingault in Strasbourg.