Durability and Aging of Materials

One of the major challenges associated with the use of various materials in our daily lives is their durability—and, consequently, their degradation. In this course, we will address issues related to material durability (resources, reserves, material criticality, etc.) as well as methodologies for studying durability (types of surface/volume aging, temporal extrapolation, multiscale analysis, combination of effects, experimental representation, and industrial validation). This will then enable us to model the kinetics of aging using various models.

The various types of degradation affecting polymers will then be analyzed.

Finally, the aging of various types of materials will be illustrated through a number of real-world case studies (concrete, ceramics, metals, and elastomers).

Hours per week*: 11 hours CM:

                                    9:00 a.m. Tutorial

- Identify the characteristics of sustainability issues and the limitations of the approaches used

- Understand and be able to establish the relationship between the mechanisms governing aging and changes in the physical, chemical, and functional properties of materials

- Be able to propose a multi-scale methodology for studying the sustainability of a product or material.

- Identify the various factors that influence polymer degradation

- Distinguish between the different types of chemical degradation of polymers

- Describe the radiochemical degradation of polymers

Elements of Elementary Mechanics (Bachelor's Level)

Concepts in Particle Diffusion (Particle Balance, Diffusion Equation)

Basic Mechanical Properties of Polymers

Elements of Chemical Kinetics

Physical Mechanisms of Deformation: The Atomic Origin of Elasticity

Terminal Control

Material durability, degradation, aging, research methods, and aging modeling

Administrative contact(s):

Master's Program Office

Master's in Chemistry @ umontpellier.fr