Innovative materials and advanced manufacturing

Strategic directions in materials and manufacturing at ÉTS

At ÉTS, more than 50 researchers specialized in engineering physics, chemical engineering, materials engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and construction engineering lead materials research activities.

The main strategic directions relate to:

• Intelligent design of traditional materials based on fundamental concepts and using tools such as modelling and simulation;
• The development of new classes of materials such as graphene, quantum materials and nanocomposites;
• The development of materials for the biomedical sector;
• Optimization of traditional manufacturing processes in terms of their efficiency and respect for the environment;
• The development of new manufacturing processes such as additive manufacturing and electrospinning;
• The miniaturization of manufacturing processes (micro-manufacturing);
• Virtual manufacturing;
• 3D printing;
• The integration of materials and manufacturing processes development within the general approach to product development.

Portrait of the Materials and Manufacturing Sector in Québec

In Québec, the advanced materials and manufacturing ecosystem is relatively young and comprises mostly SMBs. Few of them, however, invest in R&D, even though the applications arising from materials and manufacturing are used in many areas including energy, aerospace and health sciences. Our strategy is therefore to work on the entire value chain, i.e. the raw materials, processing and applications, to carry out projects yielding high added value.

Although Québec is active in supplying additive manufacturing services, it’s really inactive on the equipment production side and the development of software that can support it. In addition, the aerospace sector has led SMBs to innovate to be able to offer high added value parts. The same goes for the transport sector.

Finally, among Québec companies that produce nanotechnology components, many have difficulty finding applications that can respond to immediate market needs. Projects with a higher technological maturity would be commercially successful.