Additive manufacturing of functionnally graded materials

In the face of accidental events (collision, crash, impact of debris, etc.) or related to the context of the mission (military or terrorist aggression, etc.), the sensitive and functional zones of land, aeronautical and space vehicles, as well as ships and submarines, require protection systems that combine ballistic performance and lightness.

For a long time, the numerical optimisation of such protection systems came up against the problem of their manufacture. This limitation has been partly overcome thanks to the ongoing development of additive manufacturing techniques, which can now be used to produce functional materials with complex architecture. Often evaluated statically or under low-speed impact, there are still gaps in the performance of these materials under high-speed impact.

The aim of this project is to use metal additive manufacturing to develop materials with gradient properties and to assess their performance in ballistic energy absorption applications.