KEY COMPETENCE
surfaces and assemblies
Surface and assembly technologies are important drivers of industrial performance and competitiveness. They are even major optimization contributors as they are involved at several levels of the manufacturing process of aeronautics and space products and have a significant impact on pieces of equipment/systems’ total costs.
Nowadays, reduction of manufacturing costs and product maintenance, the adaptation of processes to new legislation (especially environmental regulations) is mandatory as well as weight reduction, multifunctionality, or improvement of products' in-service robustness and durability. These challenges put surface and assembly technologies at the heart of today’s R&T.
Objectives
Our experts design, develop and operate up to a semi-industrial scale to implement new innovative coatings & assemblies processes. Understanding the impact of process parameters is supported by using modeling tools: the technologies that we develop are, thus, transferable and adaptable to the specific needs of the aeronautics and space industries.
The applications targeted are mainly structural parts or sub-assemblies of aeronautics systems as well as launchers and satellites.
For this purpose, we operate to favor the development of stronger skills for technicians, engineers, and PhDs. We also train PhD students for careers opportunities in surfaces and assemblies technologies with a strong emphasis on the automation of processes.
R&T fields
TOWARDS GREENER & MULTIFUNCTIONAL COATINGS
We dedicate a significant part of our R&T to the development of multifunctional coatings to meet the ever-increasing expectations of manufacturers in terms of performance, cost reduction, and environmental protection. Among the properties allowing to achieve the desired product performance, we can name resistance to wear, corrosion, and erosion, as well as ice and fire. We also focus our research on anti-contaminant or thermo-optical coatings. To address the industry demands, our experts have selected several technologies, including micro-arc oxidation, chemical conversion, sol-gel or thermal spray processes.
AUTOMATIC DEPOSIT OF PAINTS & INKS
The automation of the coating process is one of our major objectives. Different technological approaches are studied:
- The automation of the surface preparation by plasma activation or laser texturization before coating application;
- The development of new automatic processes for the application and curing of polymer paints and decorative inks;
- The technological maturation of different printed electrics technologies to be able to transform any structure of the aircraft or satellite into an electron structure (current transmission, electrical wiring, Radio Frequency Antennas, etc.);
- The development of automated technologies for printing sensors on structures for structural health monitoring applications.
INNOVATIVE ASSEMBLIES
The technologies of structural assemblies of 3D parts for space and aeronautics applications are at the heart of our work:
- Mechanical assemblies technologies (modeling to experimental validation and proof of concept);
- Surface preparation of metallic materials before adhesion bonding by IR laser;
- Surface preparation of composite materials and elastomer before adhesion bonding by UV laser or atmospheric plasma;
- Non-destructive surface Inspection Technologies (detection and measurement of the pollution level, IA for process control).
Furthermore, our experts also bring their studies on the synthesis and the characterization of lead-free soldering pastes with improved thermo-mechanical properties.
Our offer
- Know-how and technical answers for the preparation of surfaces, formulation/application/characterization of multifunctional coatings & printed electrics, assemblies, and surface preparation (welding, soldering, hyper joints, expandable fasteners, lasers, plasma)
- State-of-the-art, technical syntheses
- Specific technological platforms
- 1:1 or reduced scale demonstrators
- Methodological guides and tools for statistical processing of data
- Mechanical modeling (FEM) of load transfer in assemblies
- Elaboration and automated application of multifunctional coatings on a representative semi-industrial scale
- Technology assessment reports (for instance KPP sensitivity analysis, process optimization studies characterization, aging impact studies, etc.)
- Training
- Contribution to passing successfully the technology readiness level gates for industrials
ROAD MAP
2020 > 2025
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