Papers by Author: Steeve Dejardin

Abstract: In a global study of titanium alloys behavior in specific aqueous solution (embrittlement, corrosion and corrosion under stresses), the present work focuses on hydrogen diffusion into the metal and the consequences on its microstructure. Two ways of hydrogen charging were used to investigate this issue (gaseous and cathodic charging). The final aim is to determine a fitted method to create an identified microstructure and then to perform accelerated aging tests of titanium U-Bend samples into an autoclave with a specific environment. Hydrogen absorption and formation of titanium hydride have been studied by SEM analyses and by X-ray diffraction methods.

Abstract: Hydrogen diffusion in metals is still an ongoing topic of research due to its technical relevance (hydrogen embrittlement, hydrogen storage...). In the last decades, significant progress in understanding the time evolution of the hydrogen concentration in solids was completed. This paper presents a modeling of hydrogen diffusion with a general and thermodynamically based diffusion concept coupled with mechanical and chemical aspects. This model was previously used to simulate the oxidation of a metal [1][2]. This concept has been upgraded to offer a thoroughly macroscopic behavior law used to simulate hydrogen diffusion in metal parts under mechanical loadings. The thermodynamic approach of the stress-diffusion coupling was implemented in a finite element code in order to study the hydrogen diffusion mode into a strained metal. Simulations were performed on a cylindrical austenitic steel tank under important internal pressure. The results of this study allow us to understand how hydrogen diffusion and mechanical stresses are mutually induced and modified.

Abstract: The growth of a U3O7 oxide layer during the anionic oxidation of UO2 pellets induced very important mechanical stresses due to the crystallographic lattice parameters differences between UO2 and its oxide. These stresses, combined with the chemical processes of oxidation, can lead to the cracking of the system, called chemical fragmentation. We study the crystallographic orientation of the oxide lattice growing at the surface of UO2, pointing to the fact that epitaxy relations at interface govern the coexistence of UO2 and U3O7. In this work, several results are given: - Determination of the epitaxy relations between the substrate and its oxide thanks to the Bollmann’s method; epitaxy strains are deduced. - Study of the coexistence of different domains in the U3O7 (crystallographic compatibility conditions at the interface between two phases: Hadamard conditions). - FEM simulations of a multi-domain U3O7 connected to a UO2 substrate explain the existence of a critical thickness of U3O7 layer.

Abstract: The paper is related to the analysis of shape distortions and springback effects arising in Single Point Incremental Forming. An experimental set up has been designed and manufactured to carry single point incremental forming on small size sheet metal parts. The experimental set up is mounted on 3-axes CNC milling machine tool and the forming tool is attached and move with the spindle. Experiments have been carried out on sheet metal parts to obtain tronconical shapes. The forming strategy associated to the movement of the forming tool has been also investigated. The experiments indicate that shape distortions arising in the corners of the tronconical shape are clearly related to forming strategy. The springback of rings cut in the tronconical parts have been also investigated. It is shown that positive or negative springback could be also related to forming strategy. In order to enhance experimental investigations, Finite Element simulations of the incremental sheet forming have been performed. Results obtained from the simulations prove that if boundary conditions and forming strategy carefully are taking into account, the finite elements results are in good agreement with experiments. So it is then possible to use FEM as a design tool for incremental sheet forming.