Simap, Grenoble

SIMaP is the Materials and Processes Science and Engineering Laboratory. It is a joint Research Unit (UMR 5266) of CNRS and Grenoble INP within the Grenoble Alpes University. It has over 230 people, including research scientists and research lecturers, engineers, technicians, administrative staff, PhDs and postdoctoral research workers. All of these physicists, material and fluid mechanics specialists and chemists study the preparation, forming, assembly and properties of materials for structural and functional applications (energy, microelectronics, etc.). They combine experimentation and modelling from atomic level to full process scale, based on experimental preparation and characterisation facilities. All staff takes an active part in developing the uses of materials, as a result of which specifications are becoming increasingly complex. There are many possibilities for functionalisation: at the surface (surface treatment processes), in the bulk or through assembly (multi-materials). There are still numerous hurdles to be overcome in understanding the phenomena that govern fabrication processes and in modelling and simulating these processes as well as parallel macro- meso- and microscopic phenomena in order to anticipate some of the problems that are liable to occur during industrial production.