Lab Visits
The symposium will kick-off on November 12th, featuring the arranged lab visits outlined below. Participation in these visits will be contingent upon approval from the relevant institution. Each attendee must furnish their name, date of birth, city and country of birth, nationality, position, and affiliation.
IRCER – Institute of Research for Ceramics
Located in the New Aquitaine region of Limoges, the cradle of the ceramic industry in France, the Institute of Research for Ceramics – IRCER – combines tradition and modernity in its quest for innovation in the development of high-tech ceramics to meet the new challenges of industry and society (energy, information and communication technologies, health, eco-materials…). The IRCER is housed in a single building of 8500 m², the “European Ceramics Centre”, which houses all 200 members of the laboratory as well as the scientific equipment. The development of innovative processing, a priority objective of IRCER, requires an understanding of the fundamental mechanisms involved in the formation of bulk ceramics or coatings. The range of processing methods studied is very broad and all are potential candidates for hybrid processing routes: physical deposition by plasma or laser, sol-gel synthesis route, 2D/3D digital printing, non-conventional sintering methods… The CARMALIM (CARactérisation des MAtériaux de LIMoges) materials characterization platform offers the quality, versatility and complementarity of state-of-the-art equipment that make it unique in Europe. Dedicated to the physical and chemical characterization of materials, it also attracts external users from technology transfer centers or private companies. It is organized in 6 divisions: microscopy (SEM, TEM, FIB, AFM,…), X-RAY diffraction, spectroscopy and optics (Raman, FTIR, XPS,…), thermal, chemical and morphological analyses, thermal treatments – mechanical properties, suspensions.
Oerlikon Limoges Coating Center
Oerlikon engineers innovative technologies and solutions to give products improved and pore desirable functions. Its leading high-tech surface solutions and advanced materials are designed for application in growth markets, such as aerospace : All major aero engine manufacturers today use Oerlikon advanced materials, functional coatings or process technologies to boost performance, improve safety and fuel efficiency, and control emissions. Tribological wear, friction and mechanical impacts take their toll on components, which, during their service life, must withstand wear, corrosion and high loads, whilst being lightweight and exhibiting low-friction.
Oerlikon is one of the world leaders in PVD coating technologies. These exceptionally thin, hard coatings, are marketed under the BALINIT and BALIQ brand names. More than 1,300 PVD coating systems are operated worldwide at Oerlikon and its customers’ premises. Oerlikon operates an ever-expanding network of 110 PVD coating centers currently spread across 35 countries in Europe, America and Asia.
With 50 employees and 12 coating systems, Oerlikon Limoges is one of these coating centers. This plant produces since many years quite exclusively one family of thin film coatings called Diamond-like Carbon coatings (DLC). These coatings are perfectly suited to the most extreme wear conditions and high sliding speeds, even without lubrication. The widespread applications for DLC coatings include performance automotive and racing to wind turbine shaft bearings and planetary gears; stainless steel cutting blades and piston pumps for food processing; and sliding components in filling and bottling operations. The coatings are also a proven technique for upgrading critical rotating parts in hydraulic drives, fuel injection systems, mechanical seals, pumps and valves. In Oerlikon Limoges, DLC coatings are applied through plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD). This deposition method causes a chemical reaction through plasma excitation and ionization that creates a coating hardness of approximately 20-35 GPa.
Innovative Industrielösungen für ein besseres Leben | Oerlikon
SAFIR – Surface Advanced Functionalization for Industry and Research
Created in 2019 by an industrial (SAFRAN, OERLIKON) and academic (Institute of Research in Ceramics IRCER, and its institutional supervisors CNRS and University of Limoges) consortium, SAFIR is an open technology platform, unique in Europe in the field of dry process surface treatments, on a surface area of 1200 m². SAFIR meets the maturation needs of the aeronautical industry up to TRL (Technology Readiness Level) 6 in order to allow a rapid transfer of innovations to its founding partners and their subcontractors. The platform is open to other aeronautical companies as well as to sectors requiring surface functionalities (naval, automotive, electronics, energy, etc…). SAFIR is based on the unique combination of IRCER’s expertise in technical ceramics and surface treatment processes, OERLIKON’s expertise in surface technologies and SAFRAN’s expertise in the design of critical products and systems. The platform brings together state-of-the-art equipment and high-level multidisciplinary skills in a continuous improvement process, including thermal spray (cold spray, S-HVOF, S-HVAF, plasma) and PVD (arc, magneton, HiPIMS).
