Upscaling from microscopic physics to macroscopic mechanics of solid polymers

With Hélène Montes, Antoine Chateauminois and François Lequeux
Collaboration Sabine Cantournet (Mines de Paris) and Hutchinson (Montargis)

Solid polymer have mechanical properties that are difficult to relate to their nanoscale structure and dynamics. For example, amorphous polymers exhibit strong dynamic heterogeneities heterogeneities : they can be considered as paved by nanometric domains, each with a very different property from its neighbours. This phenomenon results in the appearance of strong stress disorder under mechanical stress. In addition, semi-crystalline polymers also exhibit local heterogeneities of their mechanical properties on a slightly larger scale (lamellae, amorphous interlamellar or interfibrillar zones). At SIMM laboratory, we are trying to understand these phenomena and their consequences for macroscopic mechanical macroscopic mechanical properties. For that purpose, we combine linear and non-linear thermomechanical characterisations in the field of glass transition, models and numerical finite element simulations.

References

Belguise, A. ; Cantournet, S. ; Fabre, V. ; Le Gorju, K. ; Gaucher, V. ; Tahon, J.-F. ; Bresson, B. ; Fretigny, C. ; Lequeux, F. & Montes, H.
Confinement and Distribution of the Composition in Semicrystalline/Amorphous Miscible Blends of PEKK/PEI : A Calorimetry Study, Macromolécules, 2021, 54, 7364-7376

Belguise, A. ; Cantournet, S. ; Lequeux, F. & Montes, H.
Weak nonlinearities in viscoelastic mechanical properties of polymers near their glass transition : Local versus macroscopic laws for stress-induced acceleration of the mechanical response, Physical Review Materials, 2021, 5, 033601

Masurel, R. J. ; Gelineau, P. ; Lequeux, F. ; Cantournet, S. & Montes, H.
Dynamical heterogeneities and mechanical non-linearities : Modeling the onset of plasticity in polymer in the glass transition, European Physical Journal E, 2017, 40, 116

Masurel, R. J. ; Gelineau, P. ; Cantournet, S. ; Dequidt, A. ; Long, D. R. ; Lequeux, F. & Montes, H.
Role of Dynamical Heterogeneities on the Mechanical Response of Confined Polymer
Physical Review Letters, 2017, 118, 047801

Masurel, R. J. ; Cantournet, S. ; Dequidt, A. ; Long, D. R. ; Montes, H. & Lequeux, F.
Role of Dynamical Heterogeneities on the Viscoelastic Spectrum of Polymers : A Stochastic Continuum Mechanics Model, Macromolecules, 2015, 48, 6690-6702

Shi, P. ; Schach, R. ; Munch, E. ; Montes, H. & Lequeux, F.
Glass Transition Distribution in Miscible Polymer Blends : From Calorimetry to Rheology
Macromolecules, 2013, 46, 3611-3620