Few players in our industry invest in a real R&D center at all, and at a significant and critical size. We continue to believe Al is the ideal solution for many markets.
To remain a material of choice, more innovation around Al is required, both incrementally and with breakthroughs.
C-TEC is the engine to deliver on this innovation.
2. Our International
Scientific Council &
collaborations
International Scientific Council
Nurturing our activities with new perspectives
Constellium’s International Scientific Council gathers
several of the world’s top material scientists, and was
created in 2013 to further strengthen the company’s
technical leadership and innovation performance.
The council provides advice and recommendations on:
Constellium’s R&D competencies
Constellium’s innovation approach
Important R&D collaborations worldwide
Key future science & technology trends
How to enrich the company’s scientific network
International scientific collaborations
Preparing the future
Collaborating with the academic world is essential to
Constellium and C-TEC. At any given time, C-TEC enjoys
around 40 collaborations with external, scientific partners.
A few of our major scientific partners include:
USA: MIT, University of Southern Carolina,
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
UK: Brunel University, University of Manchester
France: CNRS/University laboratories,
IRT Jules Verne, IRT M2P
Germany: RWTH Aachen
Switzerland: EPFL Lausanne
Netherlands: TU Delft
These partnerships serve many purposes, from sharing
emerging knowledge, to exploring innovative concepts,
and identifying new talent for C-TEC.
Prof. G. B. Olson
Northwestern
University
Prof. Y. Murakami
Kyushu University
Prof. P. Grant
University of Oxford
Prof. F. Stellacci
EPFL Lausanne
Prof. T. Wierzbicki
MIT
Prof. Y. Bréchet
Grenoble INP
Prof. H. Voggenreiter
DLR Köln & Stuttgart and
University of Stuttgart
3. Simon Laddychuk,
Constellium’s
Chief Technical Officer (CTO)
Why is C-TEC so special in the
aluminium (Al) industry?
Few players in our industry invest in a real R&D center
at all, and at a significant and critical size. We continue
to believe Al is the ideal solution for many markets.
To remain a material of choice, more innovation around
Al is required, both incrementally and with breakthroughs.
C-TEC is the engine to deliver on this innovation.
What are the next big innovation
challenges for your industry ?
In aero, composites remain the main challenger, although
the industry is rethinking whether these suit all aircraft.
And in this thinking process, Al continues to gain ground,
but must innovate to remain at the forefront.
In auto, the big opportunity is the impressive demand
and ramp up of Al for this industry. We have always
believed that this will come, and now Al for the auto mass
market is becoming reality – at an accelerated pace.
Our latest alloys already offer increased strength such as
Strongalex®
Plus and Securalex®
HS for structural and
crash applications together with extrusion based crash
management systems. The challenge is to continue to
increase formability, strength and energy absorption while
meeting all the other technical requirements competitively.
Lightweighting and recyclability are the key drivers.
What are other, longer term megatrends
that you are looking at ?
We continue to believe in multi-material solutions,
where Al is one part of the equation and is combined
with other materials. This will allow moving the balance
of properties to the next level. 3D printing / additive
manufacturing is also something we follow closely.
Last but not least Big Data and “the internet of things”
will have an impact on our industry, and how we innovate.
Constellium’s CTO
about innovation for our
customers
4. Innovation is the oxygen to nourish Constellium’s
strategy. We live to develop innovative and
high value-added aluminium products, for
targeted markets in aerospace, automotive
and packaging, covering a broad scope of
applications.
C-TEC is Constellium’s Technology Center and
the birthplace of all our innovations.
We wish to be our customers’ premier choice
for innovative, next generation aluminium
solutions. Thereby co-creation is key.
Innovation at our core
Recent Constellium
innovations
ARMOR
2013
2010, 2012, ...
AEROSPACE
SECURALEX®
, SURFALEX®
2010
AUTOMOTIVE
HSA6 CMS* TECHNOLOGIES
2014
AUTOMOTIVE
AUTOMOTIVE
2013
2013
TRANSPORTATION
AUTOMOTIVE
FORMALEX®
PLUS
2013STRONGALEX®
SECURALEX®
HS
2014STRONGALEX®
+
AUTOMOTIVE
* Crash Management System
5. C-TEC, Voreppe / France
C-TEC is Constellium’s
Technology Center and a
world leader in the premier
league of research and
technology complexes for
aluminium and related
solutions. A global citizen,
operated by men and women
from 20 countries, and well
connected to all parts of
Constellium, C-TEC focuses
on three key areas:
Whilst new products and solutions are conceived and incubated
in labs, C-TEC does not stop there. We have a unique set-up in
the industry, where we can prototype new products at 1-to-1,
industrial scale. C-TEC can manufacture an entire auto hood,
test new designs for ready beverage cans or cast entire billets,
in the breakthrough AIRWARE®
pilot cast house. Thanks to this
‘lab to industrial scale’ approach innovations are fully tested and
de-risked for our customers, to ensure they can be produced on
time, quality and cost.
Customers also call upon C-TEC’s simulation and numerical
modelling capabilities, to help develop and design their
products, using our metal. Various options are tested to meet
client specifications. This reduces development time and
speeds up time to market.
C-TEC serves our customers globally and its sweet spot is in
developing customized, innovative solutions.
Customers regularly visit us and you are more than welcome.
Welcome to C-TEC,
welcome to innovation at Constellium!
Welcome to C-TEC,
Constellium Technology Center
• R&D: to develop next generation
products and solutions
• Technology: is dedicated to our
transformation processes and to
industrialize new products
• Engineering: sets standards for
excellence in large capital projects
and asset integrity
6. Recycling and molten
metal processing
Casting and solidification
Physical and mechanical
metallurgy
Surface treatment,
coatings and corrosion
Process modelling
(rolling, finishing, extrusion)
Product modelling
and design
• Integrated metallurgical
modelling of alloys
• Structural application
design, e.g. aerospace
Joining & forming
C-TEC:
key facts and figures
Location
Voreppe,
near Grenoble
France
R&T spending:
Core competencies & special equipment
... and we continue significant investments in R&D.
42million Euro
2013
42million Euro
2014
43million Euro
2015 TARGET
7. Physical materials
characterization & testing,
chemical analysis and
microstructural
characterization, e.g.
• Non-destructive, phased
array ultrasonic testing
• Large scale tensile
and fatigue testing rig
(2500 kN)
Prototyping
at industrial scale, e.g.
• Friction stir welding
• Breakthrough AIRWARE®
pilot casthouse
260
Full-time employees
22
Nationalities
Note: overall Constellium scope.
20patents filed in 2014, highest since 2004.
Innovation performance indicators:
SALES FROM INNOVATION:
4.5%
2012
9.3%
2013
13%
2014
8. Innovating for our
strategic end markets
AEROSPACE
Where innovation takes flight
The introduction of C-TEC’s AIRWARE®
family,
in 20xx alloys, has been a game-changer in
the aerospace sector. Having mastered the
optimal balance of properties, significant
gains can be achieved, be it on weight,
build rate and in-service maintenance.
Aerospace manufacturers, like Airbus,
Bombardier and SpaceX, have quickly
seized the potential of AIRWARE®
.
C-TEC is now focused on taking AIRWARE®
to
the next level, with gradual improvements for
derivative programs and radical innovations for next-generation aircraft.
We are also heavily investigating in new manufacturing techniques. Our
ultimate goal is to provide a complete solution that can be efficient
in-flight and efficiently industrialized.
PACKAGING
Creating out-of-the box solutions
For packaging, C-TEC has a particular focus
on process improvements to optimize cans
and closures that offer differentiation to
both customer and consumer. For beverages,
we adapted the traditional can stock alloy
to the specific needs of the new aluminium
bottle. In partnerships with manufacturers,
we bring innovative aesthetic and functional
attributes to aluminium closures. Recycling
remains a strong trend. Thisiswhywedevelop
new sorting and recycling technologies to
expand our end-of-life scrap sourcing.
AUTOMOTIVE
Helping to drive the future
C-TEC has developed world-class sheet
alloys and process routes for outer skin,
forming optimized closure inners and
high strength structural and crash alloys.
In addition to alloys, we provide complete
solutions for the conversion from steel to
aluminium. These include advanced enabling
technologies for forming or joining.
Future developments include closed-loop
recycling in manufacturing and efficient
recovery from end-of-life vehicles. Naturally
high-end car manufacturers will not compromise on design freedom,
safety or aesthetics. This means continued pressure to develop alloys with
ever-better formability, higher strength and which absorb more energy.