A multidisciplinary team involving researchers from IAS, IPNO, ISMO, and CSNSM in Orsay, and GSI in Darmstadt (Germany) has characterized in the laboratory the effects of heavy cosmic rays on the structural change and sputtering of small carbonaceous species released when cosmic rays, simulated and accelerated at the GSI accelerator, hit a carbonaceous interstellar dust grain analogue. The measurements performed during such simulations allow knowing the processes induced by radiations observed in space and their relative importance. The objective of these studies is to provide data on the evolution of the interstellar material, to understand its further evolution and provide constraints for modelers of astrophysical environments.