The production of metal, ceramic and metal-ceramic parts from powders is a well-established industry. Powder compaction, sintering, powder injection moulding, tape casting and hot isostatic pressing are among the conventional processes. With the advent of Additive Manufacturing, Powder Technology has become one of the pillars of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The Powder Technology and Advanced Materials Research Group (PTAM) is conducting several projects on the development of novel materials, and part manufacturing for the automotive, medical, energy and aerospace industries among others.

The group has a solid network of partners in Switzerland, Europe and worldwide. The results of the R&D activities are regularly published in international journals and presented at the major conferences in the field.

Technologies

Processing of sintered parts by uniaxial pressing and sintering
PIM Powder Injection Moulding (MIM / CIM)
Additive Manufacturing (SLM, SLS, BJ, SG-3DP)
Tape casting
Materials characterization, optical and scanning electron microscopy, mechanical tests, thermal tests, impurity analysis
Processing of conventional and emerging materials (shape memory alloys, nanoparticulate reinforced metals, ...)

Infrastructure

Full equipment for powder characterization and manufacturing of parts by powder technology.

3D printers for additive manufacturing
Single axial presses for cold and hot compaction
Injection moulding machines for Powder Injection Moulding
Mills and mixers for powder milling and granulation
Mixers and extruders for PIM feedstock compounding
Hot isostatic press
Furnaces for thermal treatments and sintering under controlled atmosphere
MIM furnace for debinding and sintering
Laser diffractometer for measurement of powder particle size distribution of powders
Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis
Dilatometry and thermomechanical analysis
Impurity analyzers (O, N, H, C, S)
Equipment for optical metallography
Scanning electron microscope with EDS, WDX, EBSD

More details on the complete infrastructure page

Team

Professors: Efraín Carreño-Morelli, Samuel Rey-Mermet, Haifa Sallem
Senior academic associates: Hervé Girard, Mikel Rodríguez-Arbaizar
Research associates: Edouard Baer, Steve Joris
Research assistants: Filipe Aguiar e Silva, Ludovic Meylan
Technical staff: Jean Pralong