R&D expertise

Materials | Analytics

Our business is analysis, expert assessments and studies on materials. From simple characteristics testing, to fine expert assessments of material behavior problems, up to product development studies, our teams can provide the appropriate solutions using proven scientific approaches.

The quality of our customer service and our responsiveness allow us to better understand your expectations and to efficiently direct the expert assessments to be conducted, in complete confidentiality.

We rely directly on the technical and scientific skills of the research staff and on the scientific independence of the laboratories of the University of Burgundy: the UMR(*) Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne (ICB), Institut de Chimie Moléculaire de l’Université de Bourgogne (ICMUB).

With the Burgundy-Franche-Comté Region’s financial support, we have state-of-the-art equipment that allows us to offer innovative analytical solutions and ambitious partnership research programs.

We are also a certified Centre de Ressources Technologiques (CRT). For more information

(*) Unité Mixte de Recherche

Sectors of activity: 

We work in all sectors of industrial activity, in particular for all companies that have to implement, transform, use and store materials in a wide variety of fields such as: cosmetics, plastics, the environment, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, transport, electronics, nuclear energy ….

Thematic analysis:

We have expertise in a wide variety of materials, whether they are in massive, powder, solution or porous form.

Our experts can assist you in the fields of metallurgy, polymers, metals and alloys, composite materials, minerals, technical ceramics…

With the scientific support of our network of researchers in Burgundy, our team supports you with your R&D projects and/or carries out analyses, expert assessments and studies according to your needs.

Analyses

Our analyses allow the characterization of materials and compounds in massive, powder, porous, solution and gaseous forms. Our panel of equipment enables:

  • raw materials to be tested for compliance in terms of physical, chemical, thermal or mechanical properties
  • impurities to be searched and identified in localized form or in a matrix
  • anomalies in material behavior to be highlighted

Expert assessments

In order to carry out expert assessments, the scientific training and the experience of our teams are a real asset. Expert assessments implement different angles of investigation associated with complementary characterization techniques. The services commonly provided are:

  • failure or behavior expert assessments
  • corrosion expert assessments
  • advanced deformation of materials

Studies

Sayens is located in the heart of the Physics and Chemistry laboratories of the University of Burgundy. This environment and the permanent exchanges with the research world allow us to support you with your development projects. We offer the following services:

  • defining specifications for research actions coupled with experimentation and bibliography for the qualification of processes,
  • interpreting complex chemical reactions,
  • carrying out advanced studies of corrosion and proposing protection solutions, optimizing material performances…
  • developing innovative physicochemical techniques in connection with research laboratories for advanced characterization

Discover our expert assessment fields, our material analysis techniques

What type of materials do you want to analyze? 

We analyze, appraise and carry out scientific studies in the major fields of materials classification. This list is not exhaustive as we also regularly make “excursions” into the world of active ingredients and pharmaceutical materials as well as into the plant or biological field. Material characterization is multi-faceted and its aim remains to explain the behavioral phenomena.

Discover the solutions we offer

Minerals found in industry are often in the form of powder or agglomerates. These compounds such as oxides, hydroxides, carbonates, sulphates etc. concern a vast field of applications. They are present in mineral fillers, bone substitutes, incineration residues, construction materials, sediments…

What do you need? 

  • To carry out a granular characterization on mineral powders | Powders and porous materials 
  • To carry out chemical analyses, material identification, pollution expert assessments | Chemical material identification | X-ray diffraction
  • To carry out deformulations of mixtures
  • To obtain support in the development of products
  • To seek crystalline silica | Chemical material identification | X-ray diffraction
  • To analyze thermal behavior and product degradation | Thermal behavior

These materials are used for their unique properties combining formability, strength, hardness, expansion, temperature resistance… New alloys are constantly being developed to adapt to new technical challenges. Metallurgical science is a very broad field that requires the use of many characterization tools and nano, micro and macroscopic scales of analysis.

 

What do you need?

  • To characterize sintered materials
  • To carry out chemical analysis, material identification, pollution expert assessments | Chemical identification
  • To develop metallographic expert assessments | Microscopy 
  • To obtain support for product development
  • To carry out mechanical characterization | Mechanical and Physical characterization | Mechanical testing
  • To study thermal behavior | Heat behavior 
  • To study corrosion | Aging and corrosion 
  • To measure residual stresses by X-ray diffraction or by µ wave spectrometry | Microscopies

Improve and innovate your plastic products!

The characterization of your parts for their material health test as well as the implementation of new plastic products are subjects to which our Plastic component can respond. These expert assessments will enable you to improve the quality, performance and reliability of your products.

We support you with expert assessments of your plastic parts and assemblies, by using characterization techniques covering physicochemical analysis to thermomechanical and rheological characterization.

Our equipment allows us to characterize your parts before and after transformation. Thanks to this, make your products in a safe and reliable way.

 

What do you need?

  • To obtain support in the development of products
  • To carry out mechanical and thermo-mechanical characterization | Mechanics and physics
  • To determine viscosity or fluidity | Mechanics and physics
  • To determine chemical composition | Chemical identification
  • To analyze phase transitions | Thermal compaction
  • To study the aging of plastics
  • To carry out injected specimens
  • To determine water content | Chemical identification 
  • To analyze fillers |  

In order to obtain unique properties, organic, ceramic or metallic matrix composites require the presence of fillers and reinforcements.

These heterogeneous materials require precise compositions and processing to optimize the desired performance.

 

What do you need?

  • To quantify the rate of fillers or fibers | Thermal behavior | Thermogravimetric analysis 
  • To carry out chemical analysis, material identification, pollution expert assessments | Chemical identification
  • To carry out metallographic expert assessments | Microscopy | Optical microscopy
  • To obtain support for product development
  • To determine mechanical characterization | Mechanics and physics | Mechanical test
  • To analyze thermal behavior | Thermal behavior

The world of oxides and high temperatures. But not only: carbides, nitrides and borides are often found in these materials with very specific physical properties.

 

What do you need?

  • To carry out chemical analysis, material identification | Chemical identification
  • To carry out metallographic expert assessments | Microscopy | Optical microscopy
  • To obtain support in the development of products
  • To analyze the porosity | Powders and materials | Density
  • To perform mechanical characterization | Mechanics and physics | Mechanical testing
  • To identify and quantify crystalline phases by XRD | Chemical identification of matter | X-ray diffraction 
  • To measure coefficients of expansion | Thermal behavior | Dilatometry 

What type of solution are you looking for?

We use a wide range of techniques and skills in different areas. Our strength lies in our scientific training, the research laboratory environment, access to high-performance equipment, some of which is unique, and our experience in advanced materials expertise.

Thermal analyzers can determine the physical properties of materials depending on the temperature: chemical decomposition, melting, change of phase or state …
The analyzed properties are an integral part of the material’s identity and allow, in addition to the verification of characteristics, “diverted” chemical information to be obtained within the framework of compound identification.

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) | DSC analysis | Dilatometry | Thermal diffusivity

The physical and mechanical properties are a direct result of the materials’ composition, their shaping and the treatments they undergo. They make it possible to check the compliance of materials, to determine the characteristics necessary to predict their implementation and to understand the cause of failures. These characterizations concern, according to the quantity to be measured, polymers or alloys, but also pasty or viscous samples.

Rheometry | Capillary Rheometry | Viscosity | HDT Vicat Viscosity | PVT Viscosity | Viscosity Fluidimetry | Viscosity index | Mechanical tests | Residual stress measurement | Mechanics, Endurance and Vibration | Acoustic Testing and Imaging

Our elemental and structural chemical analysis techniques allow materials and compounds to be identified.
We can identify a metal grade, a polymer family, mineral compounds, identify the nature of pollutants, etc.
We cover the fields of identification from trace analysis to major elements, in various matrices, in aggregate form or in a very localized way.

X-ray diffraction (XRD) | X-ray fluorescence – EDX microprobes | Infrared spectrometry (FTIR) | Water content (Karl Fisher)

The direct observation of materials at different scales, under different radiations, which can be coupled to a chemical or physical analysis, makes it possible to obtain very complete information on the state of the material and its intrinsic characteristics.

Electron microscopy (SEM/EDX, TEM) | Optical microscopy | Local probes (AFM, SMM, Nano IR)

The characterization of the extreme surface, physical or chemical on a few nanometers, makes it possible to identify the morphology, the physical or chemical properties in connection with the interfacial reactions and to assess pollution phenomena.

Mass spectrometry (SIMS) | Electron spectrometry (XPS) | Local probes | Profilometry

Mass spectrometry (SIMS) | Electron spectrometry (XPS) | Local probes | Profilometry

Granularity concerns the intrinsic parameters of powders, such as their size distribution, their specific surface, their density and the presence of porosity within the particles themselves or in a finished product. The purely morphological aspects are treated in our “microscopies” sections

Granulometry | Density (pycnometry) | Sorptometry  Hg Porosimetry ? (to be deleted ?)

With our advanced techniques and our own know-how, you can manage risks and optimize the life span of your parts in service. We support you with the characterization of your parts in corrosion by the use of advanced techniques that make it possible to foresee and understand the causes and mechanisms that degrade / alter the structural integrity of your parts.

Electrochemical corrosion | Electrochemical tests and corrosion tests (global scale) | Electrochemical tests and corrosion tests (local scales) | Thermal corrosion | Interactions stresses – diffusion – reaction | Numerical simulations

Are you looking for training in one of our skills?

Please contact us and together we will develop a training program adapted to your needs.

Contact us

We offer tailor-made R&D programs that guarantee you access to state-of-the-art scientific and technological expert assessments and technical resources.

Scientific and technical platforms

ESIREM’s technical analysis platform

State-of-the-art equipment and laboratories

From nm to mm, our state-of-the-art equipment allows us to examine matter at different scales in order to find information that will help us understand and solve your material problems.

We provide answers to your requests for material identification, chemical composition, microscopic observations, mechanical tests, thermal behavior, powder granularity, surface characterization, aging and corrosion problems,

> High-tech equipment park of over 800 m

A team of experts and scientists at your disposal

  • 13 engineers, technicians and university scientific correspondents
  • A permanent link with more than 150 researchers in the physical chemistry of matter research laboratories
  • Laboratoire ICB is structured into 6 research departments in the fields of quantum interactions and testing, nanoscience, photonics, metallurgical processes and materials, and mechanics (design/modeling). ICB’s research departments rely on high-performance technological platforms: optical and electronic microscopies, spectroscopies, optical fiber elaboration, nanofabrication of optoelectronic components, characterization of materials and optical functionalities,
  • Expert assessments of defects, inclusions, pollution, dust
  • Determination of the origin of part corrosion
  • Quantitative deformulation of complex products
  • Chemical analysis of unknown products
  • Capillary rheometry
  • Viscosity, heat and thermal conductivity measurements..

They trustes us

For more information
about Materials | Analytics R&D domain

Contact us

 

Other R&D expertises

 

Agri-environment  Agri-foodBiotechnologiesMaterials | Manufacturing

Health  Humans and SocietiesVine and Wine

Financing schemes: you can benefit from Sayens’ approved schemes

See our financing schemes

Do you want to train yourself or your teams
to develop new products ?

See our training courses

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