Damien Texier, research fellow at Institut Clément Ader UMR CNRS 5312 site d'Albi, winner of the CNRS 2025 bronze medal

Each year, the CNRS rewards the men and women who have made the greatest contribution to its influence and to the advancement of French research and innovation. Damien Texier, research fellow at the Institut Clément Ader UMR CNRS 5312 site d'Albi has been awarded the 2025 bronze medal for his work on mechano-chemical coupling.

Research and innovation

17/06/2025

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CNRS Bronze Medal 2025: Damien Texier and hot mechanical-chemical interaction

Damien Texier is a research fellow at the Institut Clément Ader (CNRS/IMT Mines Albi - Institut Mines-Télécom/INSA Toulouse/ISAE-SUPAERO/Université de Toulouse (EPE)) where he studies mechanical-chemical coupling, especially under conditions of high-temperature oxidation of materials.

"I was particularly surprised by this award". It rewards a collective effort around my themes, and underlines the attention we've been able to pay to experimental micromechanics for a good decade."

Damien Texier, specialist in the behavior of extreme materials on the microscopic scale

Damien Texier obtained his PhD in 2013 at the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche et d’ingénierie des matériaux (CIRIMAT, CNRS/Toulouse INP/Université de Toulouse (EPE)), on a project funded by the Direction Générale de l'Armement and involving ONERA, various CNRS entities and Safran. He then went on to do post-doctorates in France, the USA and Canada. He joined CNRS as a research fellow in 2017 and will defend his habilitation to direct research in 2023.

Damien Texier studies mechanical-chemical coupling, especially under conditions of high-temperature oxidation of materials. He develops his own test benches and uses correlative mechanical imaging. These very high-resolution digital images enable him to explore how materials deform by measuring kinematic fields.

One of our aims is to improve the dimensioning of structural components thanks to a better understanding of the local behavior of materials: we want to reduce the dimensions of parts so that they are lighter and more environmentally friendly.

Damien Texier studies the mechanical behavior and durability of materials subjected to complex environments. He works on structural materials, aeronautics and energy production. He looks at coupling effects on very small areas, and thus carries out mechanical and chemical microcharacterization: correlative mechanical microscopy. He focuses exclusively on metallic structural materials, made from nickel-based superalloys or titanium alloys.

Thanks to his original experiments, Damien Texier is able to isolate and dissociate the mechanical behavior of the layer affected by oxidation from the underlying substrate. His work has focused on numerous alloys and coatings used in the aerospace and nuclear sectors. He has been awarded an ANR JCJC project and an ERC Starting Grant named HT-S4DefOx.

His expertise, unique in France, has led him to collaborate with numerous academic partners in France and abroad, and to sign several industrial contracts with major groups such as Safran, Framatome and Airbus.