Alan RIGOUSSEN

En résumé

Entreprises

• Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) - PhD Student

  2014 - maintenant COMPANY
  The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) is a research center of the "Organization for Research and Technology (RTO)" type located in Luxembourg in the fields of materials, environment and IT. Its mission is to develop advanced technologies and to offer innovative products and services to the economy and society.
  Thesis topic: "A new compatibilization approach for immiscible polylactide (PLA) and poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) (ABS) blends by the use of bio-based phenolic compounds"
  
  
  CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE
  Polylactide is a promising polymer according to its natural origin, biodegradability and interesting intrinsic properties that could replace some petro-chemical polymers. Therefore, polylactide has inherent drawbacks such as its brittleness and its thermal stability that are limiting its application ranges.
  The aim of this work was to develop a new approach to compatibilize immiscible PLA/ABS blends with the ultimate objective of improving PLA mechanical properties, and especially its impact resistance aiming at extending its applications. To do this, bio-based phenolic compounds, that can have a dual reactivity towards PLA and ABS, were blended with both polymers by reactive extrusion and their compatibilization effect was studied.
  
  
  ACTIONS
  - State of the art describing solutions to improve the PLA impact resistance in order to define an innovative compatibility strategy for immiscible PLA/ABS polymer blends.
  
  - Preparation of PLA/ABS blends in presence or not of different natural compatibilizers by reactive extrusion associated with injection-molding shaping for some characterization technics
  
  - Characterization of the thermo-mechanical (DMA), thermal (DSC, TGA), morphological (SEM), mechanical (tensile strength and impact resistance), molecular (NMR, FTIR, SEC / GPC) properties of samples in order to study the compatibilization effect of additives on PLA/ABS blends
  
  - Analysis and treatment of results: results processing (Excel), report writing (Word), results presentation (PowerPoint)
  
  - Dissemination: publications of scientific papers, participation and presentation of poster or oral at national and international conferences

• Scion - R&D Polymers and Composites research engineer

  2013 - 2013 COMPANY
  Scion is a New Zealand Crown research institute specialided in research, science and technology development for the forestry, wood product, wood-derived materials, and other biomaterial sectors.
  
  
  CONTEXT
  Limiting the use of petrochemical materials by using renewable resources is one of the main society’s challenge. According to this objective, I was asked to improve PVC mechanical and thermal properties by using wood product.
  
  The subject if the internship was: "Stabilization and reinforcement of PVC by using wood derivatives"
  The addition of wood fillers to PVC by extrusion to produce PVC-based composites was selected to improve PVC thermal stability and mechanical properties. Moreover, the use of wood filler could allow to obtain PVC based materials with properties equivalent to virgin PC with a reduced weight.
  
  
  ACTIONS
  - State of the art about PVC, wood fillers, PVC-based composites thermal and mechanical properties, mechanical/thermal characterization technics
  
  - Preparation of PVC /wood fillers (flour, chips, fiber, kraft…) by extrusion and injection-molding followed by a sample thermal aging
  
  - Characterization of samples thermal and mechanical properties in order to study the wood fillers effect on PVC thermal stability as well as tensile and impact resistance (tensile and impact test, FTIR, DSC, TGA, confocal microscopy ...)
  
  - Analysis and treatment of results resulting in a report (Word) and team/internship presentation (PowerPoint)
  
  
  RESULTS:
  PVC mechanical properties improvement are obtained in presence of wood filler and highest improvement are obtained with sufficient amount of filler having highest aspect ratios.
  Use of a single characterization method (DSC) to shows that wood filers induces a thermal stabilization of PVC

• Material Research Institute of AIT (Athlone) - R&D research assistant

  2012 - 2012 COMPANY
  The MRI research center is a laboratory of the Technological Institute of Athlone (AIT) specialized in polymers for the medical and pharmaceutical industries and in composite materials. This center also offers its services to companies requiring advanced studies.
  
  
  CONTEXT
  Bone repair is a domain focusing the medical industry attention. This area of research is complex and many research are involved to study and understand phenomena and interactions occuring between the body and external materials.
  The MRI laboratory asked me to participate in a project mainly based on the preparation of scaffold hydrogels for bone tissue engineering.
  
  The topic of my internship was: "Preparation of nanocomposite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering".
  
  To produce nanocomposite scaffolds, chitosan-based hydrogels were developed and their mechanical and biological properties were characterized in order to determine the stability of these materials in a medium miming body. Chitosan was choosen for its natural origin as well as is bio-compatibility.
  
  
  ACTIONS
  - Bibliography on medical hydrogels, chitosan, photo-polymerization and reactions that could occurs in the body in presence of external materials such as hydrogels
  
  -Production of natural chitosan-based hydrogels by photo-polymerization in presence of hydroxyapatite and photo-initiator
  
  - Characterization of hydrogels behavior in a selected medium (swelling in solution, compression test, SEM, FTIR, DSC)
  
  - Analysis and processing of results, writing of a report and oral presentation of obtained results
  
  
  RESULTS
  Highest hydrogels performances were obtained for samples composed of hydroxyapatite and photo-initiator 1

• Plastimo - Methods office engineer assistant

  2011 - 2011 COMPANY
  Plastimo is a Navimo group company based in Lorient and specialized in nautical equipments production, marketing, engineering, sale and after-sales services.
  
  CONTEXT
  The company uses a large number of polymers to produce an extended range of products and some applications requires a unique polymer for their own production. For this reason, I was asked to rationalize the polymer database by determining which polymers could be replaced by polymers more widely used for several applications and having similar properties to keep products characteristics.
  
  The subject of my internship was: "Characterization of the polymer grades and rationalization of the used materials "
  
  To carry out my mission, I studied catalogs and databases of polymers and associated products in order to determiner polymers to be replaced.
  
  ACTIONS
  - Analysis of the Plastimo products catalog
  - Analysis of polymers used/related products
  - Rationalization of polymers with minor use
  - Analysis and processing of results, writing of a report and oral presentation of obtained results
  
  RESULTS
  Among 35 polymers, 10 were removed

• Armor - Quality superior technician

  Nantes 2010 - 2010 COMPANY
  Armor is an international company, specialist in ink chemistry and printing technologies. The development of inked films for thermal transfer technology used for barcodes is an important part of the company research activity to ensure an innovative products range.
  
  CONTEXT
  The use of thermal transfer technology ink rolls is growing together with the increasing number of barcodes and products requiring this type of long life ink. However, once polymer films are inducted with ink, defects named “blocking” can appear during the rolls winding step leading to issues during printing. For this reason, I was asked to develop a method to detect these defects before products sale.
  The internship topic was: “Implementation of a new blocking detection method”
  
  The quality department determined that blocking defects could be highlighted by friction tests. My goal was therefore to check the viability of this technic and to develop by optimizing equipement and studying the influence of parameters on results.
  
  ACTIONS
  - Bibliography about blocking and study of internal previous work on the subject
  - Implementation and optimization of the characterization method using a dynamometer (friction test)
  - Validation of the method by testing products with blocking defects
  - Friction tests on all types of rolls to determine its industrial use
  - Analysis and processing of results, writing of a report and oral presentation of obtained results
  
  RESULTS
  The friction test method didn’t detect all defective products. It has to be modified for an otpimal use.

Formations

• Université Bretagne Sud Lorient Vannes

  Lorient 2011 - 2013 Master ECPC
  
  Master in polymer and composite materials with a specification in Eco-design of these materials
  
  > Knowledge: surface/interface, plastic packaging, quality, solid polymers viscosity, optical materials, physico-chemical characterization of polymers, plastic recycling, life cycle analysis, chemical and physical aging of polymers, carbon footprint…
  
  > Specific knowledge about eco-design: Life Cycle A

• Université Bretagne Sud Lorient Vannes Licence 3 PC

  Lorient 2010 - 2011 Licence
  
  Licence specialized in polymer and composite materials to access to the associated Master

• IUT

  Saint Nazaire 2008 - 2010 DUT
  
  DUT dealing with measurement methods in various fields described just below:
  
  > Main areas: Communication and English, Mathematics, Electricity and Electronics
  Chemistry, Metrology, Project management, Energetics, Materials, Mechanics and vibrations, Optics, Instrumentation
  
  > Metrology method skills and use of associated instruments
  
  > Computer skills: CAD (AutoCad), computer programming (MatLab)

Réseau

• Abdellatif BACHAR

• Benjamin SAULNIER

• Biannic GAËTAN

• Jean-François FELLER

• Jérôme LAFARGE

• Jonathan GAUTIER

• Kévin GUIBERT

• Simon CORDIER

• Stephen ARCHAMBAUD

• Wilfrid-Christelle BERGÉ-CÉLÉRAU