Material experts in the north of France

The Unité Matériaux et Transformations (UMET) laboratory at Université de Lille was established to foster interdisciplinary collaboration both within the University and within the region “Hauts-de-France” and to draw the attention of industry and the government to the University’s unique capability in advanced materials research. The topics of research and development at UMET (http://umet.univ-lille1.fr/) mainly focus on four different kinds of materials: polymers and polymers matrix composites, minerals, molecular materials and metals (and alloys) and metal matrix composites. UMET has the following specified aims: (1) To build unique and world-class expertise in developing novel processes for producing advanced materials and near net shape components and in developing high performance structural and functional materials, (ii) To develop technologies in the area of advanced materials that can be used by local industry and (iii) To create an environment for training world-class postgraduate materials scientists and materials engineers. Our centre for microscopy CCM (http://umet.univ-lille1.fr/CCM/) is an expertise platform which hosts more than 50 experts in the field of advanced electron microscopy, including users from the private sector (EDF, Arcelormittal, Saint-Gobain, Arcelormittal …). Its primary goal is the study of (inorganic) materials by different electron microscopy techniques in order to correlate materials physical, chemical or mechanical properties to their structure and/or microstructure down to nano and/or atomic scale. UMET also supports and facilitates collaboration between academic and industrial sectors delivering world-class electron microscopy services.