The age of biomaterials

Inspired by materials present in nature, man has always been testing, exploiting, mixing and copying them. The goal: to add extra value to human products and to meet society’s new requirements. Mastery of the smelting of metals has therefore been an engine of development for civilizations since the iron age. Do we not divide up our history according to our abilities to fashion materials (stone age, bronze age, etc.)? But in which age are we today?

This is the time if ever there was one to take a new look at our chemistry and physics classes if we want to understand the new materials and their influence on our daily life. In fact simply put, the behaviour of materials depends on their chemical composition and the organization of their atoms and molecules. Chemistry therefore allows us to understand the relationships between the structure of materials and their properties, while physics enables us to analyze their new physical properties following transformations to which they have been subjected.

New materials appeared alongside traditional materials in the 1970s: macro-materials (complex composites), then nano-materials (artificial structures at molecular level). Reliability, longevity, precision, lightness: their advantages are multiple. Nano-materials are now used in almost all industrial fields: the space, aircraft (Airbus A380) and car industries, the medical sector, electrical and electronic construction, and even in making musical instruments.

Traditionally classified according to their functions (structural, magnetic, electrical, optical, biological), the new materials are grouped according to whether they are multifunctional (like supraconductors, memory shape materials, crystals for optical applications or active bio-materials) or so-called “intelligent”, because they adapt their behaviour to their environment (they capture a signal and react by indicating a fault, or self-repairing for example or by releasing a medicine).

Avenues for research and development are therefore numerous. Motivated by the need to find specific new solutions, researchers and industrialists are searching for activities that offer a high level of added value in the area of environmental protection, respect for the global costs of production and as a response to consumer demand. Universities, private laboratories and Walloon businesses are fully aware of the issues and have created the common structures required to ensure the successful progress of their research.

MecaTech, Sirris

The MecaTech Competitiveness Cluster, supported by the Walloon Region in the context of its Marshall economic recovery plan, musters the principal Walloon industrial, research and training actors in the field of mechanical engineering. In a radius of action affecting practically every industrial and consumer activity, the MecaTech cluster takes a particular interest in understanding materials and how to use them. As a consequence, two of the four strategic axes developed by the MecaTech Competitiveness Cluster are devoted to them.

The Mirage project is an example of this and brings together over 20 partners from the glass and steel industries, big businesses, SMEs, research centres and universities around materials and surfaces of the future and in particular photovoltaic coatings.

The Nanotech Project, for its part, encourages the creation of a horizontal structure for the manufacture of nano-powders, while the Nanocompo project (starting from the premise that carbon nanotubes are the trigger elements of the nanotechnological revolution that is already here) sets out to ensure the vertical integration of carbon nanotubes in order to promote the development of derived finished goods and new generations of products taking advantage of all nanoparticles.

Sirris, the collective centre of the Belgian technological industry, for its part groups together over 2,000 businesses that are experts in the transformation of metals and plastics. Its Walloon branch specializes in the rational use of high performance materials for the design and manufacture of products. It is active well beyond the Belgian borders.

At the same time spinoffs have been created at the initiative of the universities. Businesses are able therefore to count on the expertise of scientists experienced in a variety of domains, who, through consultancy services, offer amongst other things new multiscale modelling of the behaviour of multiphase materials (polymer matrix composites, metal matrix composites, nanocomposites…).

Research centres that are responsive to industry

Among the R&D actors, mention can be made of the CEIB, “Centre interfacultaire des biomatériaux de l’Université de Liège” (Interfaculty Biomaterials Centre of the University of Liège), specializing in medical and pharmaceutical applications. In particular, the centre offers analytical services for the study of the long term stability of medicines to European medical and pharmaceutical businesses. It equally carries out research in the context of the optimization of biodegradable biomaterials, notably for tissue reconstruction.

CerTech is, for its part, an industrial support centre specializing in plastic materials, catalysis and air quality. Its services include custom analysis, problem solving, training, applied research contracts and the improvement or development of products and processes. It is principally involved in the plastics industry sector, offering new plastic materials with properties improved by modification with an environmental goal in view in particular.

One could also mention the “Centre spatial de Liège” (Liège Space Centre), involved in surface treatment, or CTP “Centre technologique international de la Terre et de la Pierre” (International Earth and Stone Technology Centre), in Tournai, active in the treatment and recovery of primary solid materials.

Lighter and more resistant

From the industrial standpoint, Walloon businesses are attempting to make materials lighter, to make them more resistant and to extend the length of their life. They are notably active in the production of solid plastic materials resistant to temperatures of 200 to 250°C intended for incinerators and thermal power stations. Others furnish expertise in computer-assisted engineering or sensors able to detect the presence of liquid and the leakage of dangerous or explosive fluids.

Certain businesses occupy very specific niches such as designing custom products for industry and advertising or investigating lighter current return systems for high speed trains. Wallonia has also been supplying wing leading edges to Airbus since the A310, and is actively involved in space programs requiring the use of advanced materials.

To close this non exhaustive list, a Walloon business is world-leader in the preparation of very high purity zinc ultrafine powders. These are used as anticorrosive pigments in the industrial paints sector (corrosion protection), as well as a reactive agent or catalyst in specialist chemistry and pharmacy.

Welcome to Wallonia in the age of polymers, biomaterials and other composite materials…