WAIP – Upcycling of plastic blends from WEEE by Achitecturation through Innovative Polymer processing methods

Partners : Matthieu Gervais, Sébastien Roland, Alain Guinault, Agathe Navailles
Funding : Chaire Mines Urbaine – EcoSystem & DIM MaTerRe
Date : 2024-2027
The rapid increase in plastic waste from WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) highlights the urgent need for effective recycling strategies. However, the limited purity of these recycled polymers significantly constrains their performance.
This project seeks to address this challenge by developing controlled morphologies in polymer blends resulting from WEEE sorting, utilizing innovative polymer processing with layer-multiplying elements. By creating nanodomains, the project will investigate how the size and shape of the minor phase influence impact strength properties. These findings will be modeled to design optimized nanostructures that maximize performance, enabling recycled polymers to achieve properties competitive with virgin materials and advancing sustainable recycling practices.
BIO ART – Optimization of Mechanical Properties of BIO-sourced Epoxy Resins by ARTificial Intelligence

When Emerging Technologies and Sustainable Development Work Side by Side

Partners: Agustín Ríos de Anda, Holger Ruckdäschel, Sebastian Pfaller, Stephanie Chedid, Moussa Lamamra, Lukas Laubert
Funding: ANR-DFG
Date: 2023-2027
The two main objectives of the BIO ART project are the development and optimization of a fully bio-based epoxy resin, along with an in-depth investigation of its viability for industrial-scale use in composites.
The novelty of the project is encapsulated in the following four challenges:
- Exclusive use of bio-based molecules;
- Multi-scale modeling of thermosetting macromolecular networks;
- Application of neural network to optimize resin formulations;
- Multi-scale modeling of crack propagation, integrating discrete and continuous models.
ISCCAP – In Situ Chemical Capture of a Porogenic Agent
Partners : Camille Perrot, Agustín Ríos de Anda, Sébastien Brisard, Michel Bornert, Trung Hieu Nguyen, Cong Truc Nguyen
Funding : Labex MMCD & DIM MaTerRe
Date: 2023-2025
A novel process termed In Situ Chemical Capture of a Porogenic Agent (ISCCAP) utilizes CO2 as an in situ porogen to fabricate thermosetting foams. The project’s aim is to correlate the ISCCAP foaming of bio-based epoxy-amides with the associated microstructural morphology and the resulting mechanical, acoustic, and thermal properties. This will facilitate the development of a new eco-friendly material/process duo for widespread insulation applications in sustainable construction.
The project methodology is structured into four steps to develop a new bio-sourced insulation materials for the sustainable construction :
- Synthesis Phase: Bio-based amines and epoxies are synthesized to produce foams with diverse morphologies.
- Microstructural Analysis: using X-ray tomography and scanning electron microscopy.
- Property Characterization: measure of thermal and acoustic transport properties.
- Multi-Scale Modeling: Mechanical, elasto-acoustic, and thermal properties are estimated through multi-scale FEM simulations on Representative Elementary Volume (REV) derived from the microstructural analysis.
BI-STRECH – Design of biaxial tensile Machine for in situ analysis of PET
Partners : Luc Chevalier, Yun-Mei Luo, Hanane Attar
Funding : Université Gustave Eiffel & Labex MMCD
Date : 2018-2022
This project focuses on analyzing the behavior of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) under large deformations and multiaxial loading at speeds and temperatures similar to those experienced during blow molding. The scientific goal is to elucidate the relationships between stretch-induced crystallization and thermomechanical loading conditions.
The initial phase of this project involved designing an in situ biaxial stretching machine capable of integration with the SWING beamline at the SOLEIL synchrotron. This custom-built machine achieves conditions akin to those of the actual process, with deformation rate of 20 s-1 and temperatures exceeding 100°C. It is also equipped with optical and infrared cameras to measure displacement and temperature fields.
The first application of this machine was to identify the stiffness tensor, assumed to be orthotropic, of PET samples derived from stretch-blow molded bottles. Displacement fields were measured using digital image correlation during equi-biaxial tests on notched cruciform specimens. The virtual fields method was employed to determine all elastic parameters in a single test.

Modelling Materials for a Greener Future
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