MATériaux-MECAnique/Elaboration-Caractérisation-Observation-Modélisation-Simulation

The EQUIPEX "MATMECA" is coordinated by ONERA and groups together four internationally renowned laboratories: MSSMAT (CentraleSupélec), LMT (ENS Paris-Saclay), DMAS (ONERA) and LMS (École Polytechnique). These laboratories are already established on the Saclay plateau or will move there in 2019-2020.

This project is based on three platforms:

- a Powder metallurgy (PM) route materials elaboration platform including an inert gas atomisation facility (1),

- an in situ micromechanical characterisation platform comprising a TEM/STEM electron microscope (2) and a FIB-SEM ion/electron dual beam instrument (3) for thin foil preparation and 2D/3D nano-scale imaging (topography, chemistry, crystal structure…),

- an X-ray tomograph (4) and its in-situ mechanical testing machine (5),

- a computing platform (6) integrated into an ultra-high speed network (7).

Its whole budget amounts to 6,25 M€, a governmental grant of 4.5 M€ completed with funding from the partners (1.75 M€) to reach the scientific and technical objectives of the project. Year by year, the facilities are completed by the partners: additional clusters, high temperature sample holders, computers for acquisition and reconstruction of CT images, etc. Furthermore, two items have been added to the mutualised MATMECA facilities: a laser based direct energy deposition additive manufacturing machine (LMS) and a field assisted sintering machine (DMAS).

The main scientific topic deals with the great scientific challenges as well as industrial issues related to the manufacture and characterisation of materials, and the modelling and simulation of the behaviour of both materials and structures.The scientific project is strongly interested in the complex phenomena imbricated at scales ranging from the atomic up to the structure scale. The applications cover energy up to transportation, space, micro-electronics, including biomaterials and nanotechnologies.