Contribution à l'étude du comportement mécanique d'un ruban de préimprégné dans le procédé de placement de fibres : analyse expérimentale et modélisation

• Auteur / Autrice : Miguel Cano
• Direction : Alexis Beakou
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Génie Mécanique
• Date : Soutenance le 15/12/2010
• Etablissement(s) : Clermont-Ferrand 2
• Ecole(s) doctorale(s) : École doctorale des sciences pour l'ingénieur (Clermont-Ferrand)
• Partenaire(s) de recherche : Equipe de recherche : Laboratoire de Mécanique et Ingénieries
• Jury : Président / Présidente : Jean-Benoît Le Cam
• Jury : Examinateurs / Examinatrices : Laurent Guillaumat, Moussa Karama, Arnaud Alzina, Jean-Louis Robert
• Jury : Rapporteurs / Rapporteuses : Laurent Guillaumat, Moussa Karama

Mots clés

Mots clés contrôlés

Matériaux -- Propriétés mécaniques

Contraintes (mécanique)

Composites

Avions -- Matériaux

Mots clés libres

Matériaux composites

Flambement

Plaques

Modélisation

Composite materials

Buckling

Plates

Modelling

Résumé

Une grande partie de la structure des avions modernes est fabriquée à partir des dernières générations de matériaux composites. Le principal défi des constructeurs d’avions réside dans la taille importante des pièces en composites. D’où la nécessité de développer de nouvelles technologies de fabrication telle que la dépose automatique de préimprégné. La qualité des pièces fabriquées dépend de nombreux facteurs dont notamment la maîtrise de la rhéologie de la résine du préimprégné. Cette dernière évolue fortement avec les conditions environnementales et les conditions de fabrication. Elle détermine pour partie, les instabilités de la matière particulièrement le long des trajectoires curvilignes. Ces instabilités, qui se présentent sous forme de cloques, engendrent après cuisson des pièces avec des défauts de repliement des couches dans les stratifiés. L’objectif principal de cette thèse de doctorat est l’étude du comportement mécanique d’un ruban de préimprégné prenant en compte la rhéologie de la matière ainsi que sa pégosité dans le but de mieux comprendre les conditions d’apparition des cloques en trajectoire curviligne. Une partie de mes travaux est consacrée à la caractérisation des propriétés physico-chimiques et mécaniques de la matière. Une seconde partie, complémentaire à la première, est dédiée au développement d’un modèle de comportement mécanique d’une plaque sur fondation élastique représentant le ruban de préimprégné et soumise à une rotation imposée. La méthode de Ritz a été utilisée pour l'obtention de solutions explicites des charges critiques de flambement. Il a été montré que les plus faibles rayons de courbure sans formation de cloques en trajectoire curviligne dans le plan sont obtenus avec un faible écrasement du rouleau et un niveau de collant élevé.

The evolution of composite materials in aerospace has been spectacular over the last thirty years. The main advantage provided by composites is weight gain compared to other materials. However, new aluminum lithium alloys may slow this trend because of their specific properties and exceptional manufacturing costs lower than those of composites. Much parts of the structure of the A380 are made from the latest generation of composite materials with organic matrix. The Airbus A380 is the first plane of the manufacturer composed by a center wing box made by composite reinforced with carbon fibers and organic matrix. And like the devices that preceded it, the center wing box, rudder, horizontal stabilizer and the elevators were designed with composites reinforced with carbon fibers and organic matrix. But the main challenge with the new aircraft is the size of parts ; the size of the horizontal stabilizer of the A380 for example, is similar to the wing of the A310. Hence the need to develop the intensive use of automatic prepreg lay up technology. The use of semi-finished prepregs for the manufacture of parts allows standardizing production. Indeed, these products exhibit with the desired rate of reinforcement on the final parts, all the delicate operations of pumping excess resin during the implementation of parts, as the case in the RTM process (Resin Transfer Molding) are eliminated. The quality of parts produced using automatic lay up depends on many factors including the accuracy of trajectory lay up, the control of rheology of the resin contained in the prepreg and behavior at the interface of the material and tooling. The rheology of the resin is changing considerably with environmental conditions (temperature, humidity) and processing conditions (speed of removal, compaction strength). It determines in part and in combination with the tackiness of the prepreg, the instabilities of the material particularly along curved trajectories. In curvilinear lay up, the rotation of the tow placement head imposes to this portion of slit tape, a curvature generating a circular bending phenomenon.The outer portion of the tape is then stretched while the inside is compressed. When the radius of curvature of the tow placement head is low, the result is a phenomenon of local buckling of the slit tape. The corresponding layer waviness (See figure 1) is visible after the passage of the roller so instantly or delayed, depending on the conditions of lay up (speed lay up,compaction strength, temperature, humidity) and the tackiness of the material. Thus, the formation of the layer waviness is a local phenomenon that appears in the material between the tow placement head and tools. It is this area of the material defined by the form of plate, and the extent of which depends on the compaction strength and flexibility of the roller which will be the model proposed in this communication. It is supposed that this plate is based on elastic foundation in order to reflect the tack of the material. The formation mechanism of ply waviness is very few studied and remains unclear since these defects appear at different steps in the manufacturing process. Some studies recommend, without justification, to not exceed some radius of curvature to avoid buckling [1]. Interactions between tooling and material in relation with lay up conditions were studied [2]. In this paper we study the mechanical behavior of a slit tape taking into account the rheology of the material so that his tack in order to better understand the conditions of appearance of layer waviness during circular trajectories. At first, we will present some results from the identification of physico-chemical and mechanical properties of prepreg carbon / epoxy and then we will explain the evolutions observed. A second part, complements the first,will be dedicated to the development of a model of mechanical behavior of a plate based onelastic foundation, representing the slit tape which is subjected to a rotation imposed. The mechanical model of the slit tape will be based on the theory of plate under the hypotheses of Kirchhoff-Love and Von-Karman. Determining the critical buckling load is carried by the Ritz method. The simulation results using different boundary conditions will be analyzed and compared to real cases.