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Equipped with latest technology, the Pometon R&D Centre is the heart of our product development and is undertaken by our team of experienced Research Engineers who work in close collaboration with our customers. Metal powders such as Titanium, Aluminum and Nickel for the biomedical, aerospace and electronics field, need constantly to be customized and Pometon is at the forefront of the development of such specialized powders. We encourage our customers to collaborate with us at our research facilities and we provide customers technical assistance with the application of metal powders.

R&D functions and goals

  • Improvement of existing products
  • New product development
  • Absorption of new technologies
  • New process development
     
  • Technical-scientific collaborations with industrial companies;
  • Cooperation with the universities, national and international research centers;
  • Participation in European and international projects and consortiums;
  • Moving forward to environment appropriate technology.

Pometon R&D Department is focused on:

Materials

Expertise to select the right powder

Design

Support to create innovative PM solutions

Process

Know-how to ensure optimum production efficiency and quality.

Environment

We choose the appropriate technologies.

Participation

Participation in European and international projects and consortiums

Pometon technologies

ATOMIZATION TECHNIQUES (water, air)
ELECTROLYTIC PROCESS
MILLING

Pometon Research equipment

Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES)

The plasma emission spectroscopy allows the specialized technicians of the Pometon R&D Centre, to determine the qualitative and quantitative chemical composition of the powders. The equipment is very precise and able to recognize all the elements in the periodic table.

Laser Diffraction Particle Size Analyzer

The Malvern mastersizer 3000 analyser model, with a sampling system for dry and wet analysis, allows the technical team of the Pometon R&D Centre to conduct particle size analyses of any type of material and with any particle size. The revolutionary optical system and the double laser source allow our researchers to process extremely precise analyses even in the case of very fine and irregular particle sizes.

Optical microscope with scanning electron microscope correlative platform

The Zeiss Axioscope 7 optical microscope from our R&D Centre, with magnifications up to 1000X, is used for metallographic investigations and for the evaluation of porosity in the material. Equipped with very high quality Zeiss optics and a sophisticated software interface, it allows our technicians to be able to conduct extremely precise evaluations of the specific metallographic phases and of the residual porosity of each analysed powder. The correlation device allows us to report a specific area of interest to the scanning electron microscope.

For morphological and structural evaluations of the analysed powders, our team of researchers uses the scanning electron microscope EVO 10 Zeiss, which is able to provide high-resolution images with magnifications up to 200,000 X.  Thanks to the presence of an EDS detector (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy), our researchers are able to obtain information on the chemical composition of the material under examination.

Thermogravimetry, differential scanning calometry and differential thermal analysis (TG-DSC-DTA)

The latest thermal analyser generation TG - DSC - DTA STA 449 F3 Jupiter NETZSCH allows the Pometon R&D Centre technical staff to determine the extremely precise physical / thermal properties of our powders. This model, equipped with a rhodium furnace, allows us to perform thermo-gravimetric tests up to 1500 ° C, in a reducing atmosphere with the use of nitrogen, argon, even in a mixture with hydrogen and oxidant in the air. It is also equipped with a software interface that allows our highly specialized technical team to set specific test execution parameters and obtain extremely precise thermal information in order to know, understand and define the best formulations and the best performance of our products.

X-ray crystallographic analysis (XRD)

With the Bruker D8 Advance X-ray diffractometer, the Pometon R&D Centre performs the qualitative and semi-quantitative determination of the crystallographic phases of the materials. This equipment supports a copper source and a detector for the analysis of the presence of phases from 0 to 120 ° theta - 2theta. Thanks to the high analytical competence of our team of researchers, Pometon is able to develop analysis methods allowing us to successfully supply the most important players in the "Friction Products" market.

Helium pycnometer

Micromeritcs helium pycnometer for determining the absolute density of materials. With this device, the technicians of the Pometon R&D Centre are able to analyse the density of both our powders and materials in compact form with absolute precision.

Avio 200 ICP Optical Emission Spectrometer

The Avio 200 ICP optical Inductively coupled emission spectrometer is one of the latest models of optical ICP by atomic emission and ionization from Perkin Elmer.
The characteristics of this instrument is the vertical optical compartment and the double vision system, which gives the instrument an exceptional sensitivity and analytical precision.
The microwaves digestion system allows the dissolution of metal alloys into its chemical elements, which have low reactivity by the digestion system which is the most common analytical method.

The speed with which this instrument is able to process the analysis results in a lower consumption of carrier gas, and reflects Pometon's sensitivity towards a sustainability and respect for the environment.
These aspects allow our technical department to perform quantitative chemical characterizations to guarantee the quality of the materials produced, and the development of new methods of analysis for the development and characterization of experimental materials as well as a technical assistance for our customers, in full compliance with company policies in terms of quality assurance, environment and safety.

O, N and S, C Analysers

LECO ON 736 for determining the oxygen and nitrogen content on powders and metal components.
LECO CS 744 for the determination of the carbon and sulfur content on powders and metal components.
With LECO analysers, the Pometon R&D Center team is able to determine, monitor and achieve the highest degree of purity of our powders to ensure maximum performance in the various application fields of use of our customers.

Powder rheometer FT4

The Pometon R&D Centre uses the FREEMAN FT4 Rheometer to characterize the physical properties of powders such as flowability, bulk density and compaction capacity. For the production of powders for AM (Additive Manufacturing) and for the development of Ready to Press products for the Press & Sintering sector, the high-level characterization is the fundamental characteristic that guarantees the supply of high quality powders and technical support of excellence.

Dilatometer

The Dilatometer DIL 402 Expedis NETZSCH, allows the technical staff of the Pometon R&D Centre to determine the extremely precise physical/thermal properties of our powders. Specifically, this model allows us to perform dilatometric tests up to 1500 ° C, in a reducing atmosphere with the use of nitrogen, argon, even in a mixture with hydrogen; it also allows you to perform vacuum dilatometric tests with the possibility of performing tests by exactly simulating the specific thermal processes used in the main application sectors of our customers. Always with the aim of knowing, understanding and defining the best formulations and the best performances of our products.

Automatic macro/micro hardness tester

For the determination of the hardness of materials, the Pometon R&D Center uses the macro - micro durometer 30/1 QNESS. This device is fully automatic, and allows you to carry out macro and micro hardness tests using the latest generation optical systems, high precision electric servomotors for moving penetrators. The management of the software interface allows the realization of series tests on more details, decay profiles, structured homogeneity profiles, thus responding to every analysis need of our customers.

Vacuum sintering furnace

The TAV vacuum and high vacuum sintering furnace allows the highly specialized technical team of the Pometon R&D Centre to faithfully replicate the thermal processes used by our customers, hence the development of the highest quality powders.

This furnace is composed of a molybdenum lanthanate chamber which allows the sintering of metal parts up to 1400 ° C. The vacuum levels that the oven can reach are 10-2 with the use of a mechanical pump and ultra-high vacuum 10-4 with the use of a turbomolecular pump. A sophisticated electronics of the oven allows us to customize a wide range of thermal cycles according to your needs, with the possibility of carrying out cooling cycles up to 1 ° C / S, in partial pressure of nitrogen, argon, hydrogen and mixtures of the same gases. . Fundamental for the sintering of stainless steels, special steels, special materials such as titanium and its alloys.

CNC Coordinate measuring machine

The ZEISS ECLIPSE 500 CNC coordinate measuring machine allows the technical staff of the Pometon R&D Centre to measure components with any morphology with the highest precision. Three-dimensional metrology represents the state of art of the technological innovation in manufacturing processes. Measuring in 3D is observing and thinking in 3D.

Electrodynamic machine for mechanical tests (100hz Fatigue Test)

Tests for determining the mechanical properties of materials and components are essential for verifying the results obtained with our powders on the finished parts of our customers.
Pometon's R&D Centre is among the very few laboratories capable of performing static and dynamic tests with a load of 40 kN with frequencies up to 100Hz.
The UD040 electrodynamic machine developed by Steplab in close contact with R&D researchers Pometon is in fact the only linear motor machine with the highest dynamic load (40kN) on the market. Managed by the powerful TEST CENTER software platform, capable of managing both static and dynamic tests, it responds both to the needs of international regulations and to special test specifications developed on the needs of our customers.