Current civilian and military aircrafts and flying systems (e.g. UAVs) are designed from thin, lightweight, multi-material structures assembled by bolting, gluing or built-on fabrication. Due to their constitution, these structures are vulnerable to explosion phenomena that occur on their surface during a natural aggression such as lightning, or intentional aggression such as Directed Energy Weapons (DEA) or lasers. These aggressions are governed by multiphysical mechanisms in the environment close to the impacted surface (thermal, mechanical, electrical, EM). They generate superficial (top plies cracks, skeins of stripped fibres) or core damage (spalling, perforation). The residual performances of the structures are significantly diminished and the internal equipment (tanks, embedded systems) are exposed. It is necessary to protect these systems to limit their vulnerability. The objectives of the project SUSTAINED21 are in line with the civilian and military needs whose systems are susceptible to these different types of aggression, in order to envisage industrial solutions with high added value that will increase their survivability. The challenges arising from these applications are to have available a method for dimensioning the protection of structures that breaks with the current industrial practices, and contribute to the operational superiority of forces. The first objective of this study is to build an experimental database and a mapping of the damage induced by three different means of energy deposition: the lightning mean (which constitutes the reference test), the pulsed laser and the electron gun. The use of this damage mapping will make it possible to assess the similarities between the damage produced by the two alternative means with respect to the "lightning" reference test, the results of which are already available on CFRP composites. It will also ensure that they are representative, particularly with respect to the electromagnetic environment. By extension, this database can be used to compare damage from impacts at very high speeds. The second objective consists in numerically simulating the behaviour of the materials of interest under attack in order to evaluate the capability to predict the damage caused and to identify the limits of current models, particularly with regard to the application of a multiphysical loading. The achievement of this objective will be based on the adaptation of existing models and on the comparison with the mapping of the database. The third objective is to establish a methodology for using the technological bricks developed in objectives 1 and 2. The influence of the protective layers will be explored here in order to help, in the long term, the emergence of a tool for dimensioning protections. This predictive approach will be transposable to the military field for the dimensioning of future directed-energy weapons according to the layers of protection to be penetrated. This approach will satisfy the challenges for industry to reduce the costs of development studies, the most robust protections being the only ones subjected to certification/qualification lighting tests, the lightning generator being used as the final reference mean. The project is based on a partnership between an academic project leader who has worked on the modelling of damage caused by lightning, an academic partner specialized in the implementation of an experimental laser shock device, and an industrial partner expert in specifying protection layers. The proposed work involves a subcontractor in the SME sector with know-how in the implementation and analysis of laser shocks, and will be supported by DGA-Ta as the expert in lightning tests certification. The work is part of the continuity of collaborations and scientific partnerships with the DGA-Ta in Toulouse and Airbus Operation. Being interested in this field, DGA Missiles Testing SG will be able to offer its support.

The severe increase in environmental plastic pollution is at the very heart of the society current concerns. If so far its impact on environment and human health remains not well known, the vast majority of scientics agrees on the fact that it may represent a major environmental issue with dramatic consequences on the whole ecosystem. Participatory research is at the core of various plastic waste monitoring programs. As plastic pollution is directly related to nowaday lifestyles and consumption modes, involving civil society apears crucial in order to raise awareness and involve citizens in the decision-making process to contain plastic pollution. Microplastics (plastic particles from 1 nm to 5 mm) are responsible for an hardly discernible pollution that have penetrated almost all marine and terrestrial ecosystems. An increasing number of studies is working on the understanding of their origine and impacts. For 3 years, Expedition MED NGO have been conducting a participatory research program by receiving and training citizens on its vessel for the sampling of surface water microplastics in Mediterranean sea. Samples are partially analyzed onboard, and then sent to public research institutions for deeper analysis. Microplastics analysis aims to identify their concentration, their morphological characteristics (size, shape, color), their concentration in contaminants such as heavy metals or endrocrine disrupters and to study the microorganisms that colonize plastics (bacteria, virus, fungi, etc.). Historically, participatory research protocols are designed by scientists for study scale-up and diversification of the sampling localizations. Citizens are mainly involved in the samping step, and their participation to the analysis step remains quite limited. Considering microplastics contamination studies, this is explained by a number of reasons. Due to their high concentraitons and small sizes, microplastics analysis is particularly difficult and time consuming. Timelines between the sampling step and the analysis step are significantly important, even for specialized academic actors. Furthermore, analysis methods require high-tech equipments that are not accessible for civil structures actors. The ambition of this project is therefore to develop microplastics analysis protocols that can be implemented during field participatory research programs. The goal is to involve citizens not only during the sampling step but also during the analysis step, in order to train them during the whole scientific study process. It should strengthen the implication and understanding concerning microplastics pollution, its impacts and origins, while supporting a stronger collaboration between academic and civil societies in order to highlight suitable solutions for plastic pollution reduction.

Moving towards Smart Manufacturing is a key challenge for the 4.0 Industry. This involves using digitized processes and technologies to enable significant adaptability and optimize the performance of processes and products. In this context, the control of the functional properties of surfaces, and particularly of the surface appearance, constitutes an important lever of added value. Many scientific and technological challenges are associated with this issue. The objective is, by quantifying the visual properties of manufactured surfaces at a roughness scale, to objectify a subjective, unconscious and complex process of sensory perception that integrates a wide range of previous representations. The approach proposed in the RTI4.0 project consists in implementing a measurement of the angular and spectral component of the re?ectance of surfaces according to the principle of the RTI technique (Reflectance transformation Imaging). The information obtained is multidimensional, allowing to estimate both apperance descriptors associated with the distribution of measured local luminances, but also geometric descriptors (altitudes, slopes and directional curvatures) through the estimation of stereo-photometric models. The challenges associated with this approach are numerous and multifactorial. The research actions envisaged mainly concern, on the instrumental level, the development of new RTI acquisition approaches (multimodal, adaptive, multiscale), and on the methodological level, the development of methods for the analysis of the properties of surface states allowing the implementation of a functional control of the appearance of manufactured surfaces.

France is the world's leading producer of flax fibre, accounting for 50 to 60% of the world market. In Normandy and in Hauts de France, the flax industry represents a significant economic weight. Whether in the cultivation or fibre processing sector, it employs more than 8,000 people. For a long time dependent on Asia and China, particularly for the fibre processing stages for the textile industry, we are now seeing relocation phenomena within this sector and the establishment of new companies, particularly in the spinning sector. At the same time, the increase in the flax cultivated surfaces and the appearance of new outlets, in particular in the technical and materials industries, is encouraging fibre producers to diversify and to consider other applications than textiles for the future. Like any agricultural sector, the flax industry is highly dependent on climatic conditions; the evolutions and climatic changes we are facing, and which will be more marked tomorrow, impose changes in strategy, particularly in terms of cultivation. The NEW FLAX joint laboratory brings together two partners: the scutching company Van Robaeys Frères (VRF), one of the leading producers of flax fibres in France, and the Dupuy de Lôme Research Institute (IRDL), a CNRS laboratory, which has nearly 30 years' experience in the characterisation and use of flax fibres in composite materials. It has two major scientific and industrial objectives. The first is linked to climatic changes, and its ambition is to develop new crops, which are still not very widespread in the flax sector, but which are less sensitive to climatic hazards; this is the case for the cultivation of winter varieties, which are currently considered to be less rich in fibre, but which also allow a period of growth during periods when the risk of water stress is lower. Pilot cultivation trials will be conducted and, thanks to the know-how developed by the laboratory, the properties of the fibres from these crops will be evaluated and compared with the fibre yields obtained by the VRF Teillage Centre; part of the work will also focus on the adaptation of existing conventional varieties to water stress; work will be carried out with variety breeders in order to evaluate new varieties put on the market and to select terroirs that are less prone to climatic risks. The second major objective of the joint laboratory is to work on understanding the performance of flax fibres; work will be carried out to set up mechanical and morphological characterisation tools that will enable the company to reliably control the properties of its fibres. In addition, the influence of the transformation processes, and in particular that of the carding and refining stages on the performance of the fibres, will be evaluated with the support of the laboratory. The main objective of this work is to improve VRF's knowledge of fibres, by benefiting from the know-how and characterisation means developed in the laboratory, in order to develop new product ranges with optimised properties. The operational phase of the joint laboratory will be followed by a sustainability phase during which new fibre ranges, used to design new industrial products, will be put on the market.

The renewed interest in hemp cultivation is currently justified by its low environmental footprint and its moderate use of inputs (water, pesticides) compared to cotton and flax. The TAFFTA project aims to overcome technological and scientific barriers to understand the crucial stages of the transformation of hemp stems to textile yarns such as retting, fibre extraction, spinning, weaving and functionalisation in the southern France. The dew retting will be investigated by combining ultrastructural, biochemical and meta-omics approaches to fit/tailor hemp dew-retting process within originally non-favourable territories in southern France. Thanks to pilot (lab-scale) and industrial devices and novel experimental and numerical couplings, the extraction of the retted fibres and the spinning conditions will be optimised for the production of fine yarns for textile applications. Environmentally friendly finishing treatments and associated processes will be developed to implement additional functionalities to hemp textiles such as fire resistance, hydrophobicity and antimicrobial properties.