Adrien Van Gorp’s research while affiliated with Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 and other places

This paper deals with a combined experimental/numerical approach to identify the degradation profile of the magnetic properties at the cutting edge of mechanically cut electrical steels. Using a dedicated magnetic measurement device combined with a specific magnetic characterization protocol and mechanical hardness measurements, the impacted distance to the cutting-edge (I.C-E) of a non-oriented (NO) Si-Fe electrical steel has been experimentally delineated. Then, thanks to a magneto-plastic model together with a Finite Element (FE) method-based numerical model, the I.C-E distance and the associated degradation profile have been determined by an inverse optimization method. The obtained results show that the degradation profile, although it follows a classical rapid decrease from the cutting edge, is quite different from those usually considered in the literature.

The manufacturing processes of electrical machines may lead to significant degradation of the magnetic properties of their magnetic core (stator, rotor) performances and, as a consequence, to a decrease of their energy efficiency. While the effects of some processes (cutting, welding …) are widely discussed in the literature, this is not the case with the compaction process although it is systematically used to maintain the assembly of electrical steel sheets that compose the magnetic circuits. In addition to the conventional one, a specific compaction process exists for high-power electrical machines. After an introduction, the paper firstly deals with the two studied processes (conventional, specific). Then, an experimental mock-up to study the impact of the two configurations on the magnetic properties (iron losses, normal magnetization curve) is presented. This mock-up is the first, in the literature, that allows to study the effect of a controlled compaction mechanical stress on magnetic properties. Obtained results in both configurations highlight a magneto-mechanical effect that is not reported in the literature where these effects are commonly considered following in-plane mechanical stresses. This paper presents a magneto-mechanical model, taking into account the compaction stress effect, as well as a modelling protocol to model the effect of 3D mechanical stress on magnetic properties, which has never been done in the literature.

This paper deals with the analysis of the magnetic properties degradation following an industrial impregnation process of electrical steels employed in stators of large generators. First, the impregnation process is studied directly on industrial stators to emphasize the significance of the process effect. Then, to have a controlled approach of the impregnation conditions, laminated ring cores were subjected to the same process but for different configurations. The ring cores were magnetically characterized to highlight the influence of the resin on the magnetic properties. Also, in order to distinguish the effect of the resin from other phenomena during the curing phase (i.e. the ageing effect), an experimental protocol is proposed: the results allow to emphasize the impact of such process on the magnetic properties.

This paper deals with the experimental investigation of the effect of impregnation process on the normal magnetization curve and iron losses of electrical steels. To address this issue, several laminated toroidal magnetic circuits have been designed to characterize the magnetic properties with the flux metric method. The first configuration considers magnetic circuits wrapped with adhesive tape so that the dielectric resin will be deposited only on the outer surface of the magnetic circuit. In the second configuration, the magnetic circuits are unwrapped, which will allow the resin to diffuse within the inter-laminar spaces of the magnetic circuit. The obtained experimental results show significant effects on the magnetic properties in both cases. However, depending on the considered configuration, the resin diffusion also has an influence on the changes in magnetic properties.

In the present work, a Si/Zr based sol–gel (SG) coating was deposited on 316L stainless steel plates, previously treated by passivation (SSO) or electropolishing (SSEP) producing two different surface states. The SG coatings were compared for SSO and SSEP substrates in terms of morphology, topography and tribocorrosion response. The coating topography revealed a smoother surface for the Si/Zr-SSEP system. The coating deposited on the smoothest surface (Si/Zr-SSEP) presented half of the thickness of the one deposited on the roughest surface (Si/Zr-SSO). Tribocorrosion behavior was studied under potentiostatic control at anodic potential with a continuous recording of current (I) during sliding (pin-on-disc and alumina ball counterbody). Both SG systems showed an increase of current upon 100 sliding contact cycles indicating corrosion activity. After tribocorrosion tests, both systems revealed scratches, typical of abrasion, and coating removal in the wear tracks; the alumina counterparts presented accumulation of wear particles adhered to their surfaces. In conclusion, the initial surface state of the substrate modified the coating thickness, topography but did not significantly alter the tribocorrosion response of the studied SG systems.

In this article, an experimental procedure is presented to handle magnetic measurements under uniaxial tensile stress reaching the plastic domain. The main advantage of the proposed procedure is that it does not require an additional magnetic core to close the magnetic flux path through the studied sample. The flux flows only in the sample, and no parasitic air gaps are introduced, thus avoiding the use of the H-coil to evaluate the magnetic field, which is often very sensitive and not easy to calibrate. A specimen of nonoriented FeSi (1.3%) sheet (M330-35A) is characterized under uniaxial tensile stress. To validate the proposed procedure, a comparison with the single sheet tester procedure is carried out. The results obtained by the two procedures are in good agreement. Moreover, to illustrate the possibilities offered by the proposed procedure, we confirm some results obtained in the literature. We show that the positive plastic strain leads to a significant degradation of magnetic behavior. An applied tensile stress on a virgin (unstrained) sample leads to a degradation of the magnetic behavior. However, on a pre-strained sample, an applied tensile stress results in reducing the deterioration caused by the plastic strain until a stress value called optimum is attained. Above this threshold, the magnetic behavior re-deteriorates progressively.

This investigation addresses the effect provided by industrial surface finishes on the tribocorrosion properties of 316L stainless steel exposed to NaCl solution. Three distinct surface treatments were evaluated: passivation (SSO), electropolishing-passivation (SSEP) and micro-undulation (SSM mechano-chemical + electropolishing + passivation). For the tribocorrosion tests, a potentiostatic approach was considered in order to highlight the alloy behavior under two opposite situations, where repassivation of the surface would be thermodynamically possible or not (anodic or cathodic polarization, respectively). The outcomes demonstrated that the surface treatments were either harmful (SSEP) or beneficial (SSM) in terms of resulting tribocorrosion resistance. The specific topography of the micro-undulated sample decreased the real contact area and improved the surface lubrication in aqueous medium. SSEP presented the highest chemical wear and several factors seemed to have contributed for it, including the chemical, mechanical and structural properties of the passive film. Regardless the surface treatment, the tribocorrosion response was modified by the applied potential and more severe damage was determined under anodic polarization. At this potential, calculations of the total surface degradation suggested that volume loss was mainly dominated by chemical wear.

The impact of different industrial surface treatments, such as electropolishing and micro-undulation, on the mechanical and corrosion properties of cold-rolled 316L stainless steel has been investigated. The nature of the passive layers created by the three surface finishes led not only to chemical differences as determined by XPS analysis, but also to dissimilar roughness and mechanical response as shown by surface topography and nanoindentation analysis, respectively. The industrial surface treatments appeared to improve the protective anticorrosion properties of the stainless steel as shown by electrochemical impedance analysis. Differences in repassivation abilities were demonstrated through cyclic voltammetry and were discussed in terms of chemical profiles in the passive layer as determined from XPS. Finally, considering the passive layer as a semiconductor material, it is shown that Mott-Schottky plots are in good agreement with the chemical profile of the passive layers.