C O N S T E L L I U M

T H E C U LT I VAT I O N O F

I N N O VA X N

T H E C O M P A N Y

Constellium is a global producer of high-performance

aluminium alloys. Primarily serving the aerospace,

automotive and packaging industries, it has

dozens of research and manufacturing sites across

the world, some 12 000 employees, and a turnover

of €4.9bn in 2020.

T H E W O R K

InnovaXN (pronounced “innovation”) is a doctoral

training programme in which students are supervised

jointly by companies, academic institutions and the

ESRF and/or the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) on

the EPN campus. Launched in 2019 by the ESRF

and ILL, its aim is to match synchrotron X-ray

and neutron research to the needs of European

companies, and to create deeper and longer-lasting

relationships between big-science and industry

(see box).

Constellium was one of the first industrial

participants in the programme. In partnership with

the SIMaP lab at the Université Grenoble Alpes, it is

co-supervising a PhD student who is investigating

the inf luence of various processing stages on the

microstructures of thick aluminium plates for

aeronautic applications. Under the supervision

of Julie Villanova at the ESRF’s ID16B beamline,

the student is employing X-ray nanotomography to

witness the development of these microstructures

while processing is taking place. Further work at the

ILL will expose any trapped hydrogen, which may

af fect the evolution of the aluminium’s porosity.

T H E I M P A C T

We already had the pleasure of supervising

a PhD student at the ESRF three years ago

so when we became aware of the InnovaXN

programme we immediately wanted to participate

We particularly liked the fact that so many skills

and facilities are involved on the same location

you have both the ESRF and the ILL and then

nearby the Université Grenoble Alpes which has a

wide range of its own laboratories Obviously the

ESRF is a unique facility we could not do these

experiments elsewhere But more important for us

is the nature of the InnovaXN programme which

attracts the best students from over the world

and presents a great opportunity for future hiring

Alexandre Barthelemy and Melanie Ollat RD

engineers Constellium

“The ESRF is a unique

facility; we could not

do our experiments

elsewhere.”

Alexandre Barthelemy and Melanie Ollat,

R&D engineers, Constellium

Industry collaborates with ESRF specialistsI M P A C T O N I N D U S T R Y

KEY FACTS

The InnovaXN programme is partially

backed by the European Commission as

a Marie SkłodowskaCurie Action MSCA

COFUND and partly by the ESRF the ILL

and industrial and academic partners

including Université Grenoble Alpes

The programme currently supports 40 PhD

students alongside 40 company researchers

with project topics ranging from the curing of

industrial coatings to the impact of enzymes

on skin disorders and to the performance of

sustainable concrete binders

For more information visit wwwinnovaxneu

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