Elaboration par frittage flash de composés céramique/métal pour la protection balistique

Abstract

This dissertation describes the synthesis of new components for ballistic protection with the assistance of flash sintering. Indeed, the objective is to associate two compounds showing very different sintering temperatures – such as alumina and aluminum, two reference materials for ballistic protection applications.The first synthesis method tested was the elaboration of a bi-material via the sintering of aluminump owder on alumina bulks. This study permitted to observe the formation of the alumina/aluminum bonding by scanning and transmission electron microscopy and to optimize the assembly parameters in order to obtain a bimaterials howing a strong interfacial cohesion. Adapted characterization techniques (X-rays diffraction and Vickers indentation) revealed residual stresses inside the ceramic that stemmed from the difference of thermal expansion coefficients between the two compounds during the cooling of the bi-material. Moreover, these assemblies have been tested with static (indirect tensile) tests and dynamic (ballistic) tests. These tests evincedthe very strong cohesion of the assemblies and permitted to confirm the relevance of static tests, which are easierto set up, for the evaluation of materials for ballistic protection.The other synthesis method considered was the one step sintering of a material displaying a gradient of composition, from pure alumina to pure aluminum with an interphase constituted by alumina/aluminum combinations. From a technical point of view, the flash sintering process proved capable of generating a thermal gradient of several hundreds of degrees inside a sample a few millimeters high, thanks to the use of a specific shape die. Unfortunately, the limited wetting of alumina by aluminum prevents the sintering of the alumina/aluminum mixtures from temperatures being lower than that of pure alumina. On the contrary, this limited wetting leads to an increase in the sintering temperature of the composites of ~200 °C and prevents the preparation of a material showing a composition gradient. Nevertheless, this method permits the synthesis of dense alumina composites (99 %) à matrice d'alumine avec de faibles quantités d'aluminium, de l'ordre de 5 % en masse