Compositadour celebrates its tenth anniversary

The technological platform Compositadour, devoted to advanced materials and established at the Technocité technology park in Bayonne will celebrate its tenth anniversary this year. Francis Sedeilhan, Head of Compositadour, takes stock of the evolution of this technology transfer tool that now employs 40 people.

How has your cooperation with industrial groups evolved since the creation of Compositadour?

Our business activity has evolved hugely since it first started. We were originally mainly focussed on composites and we now have an additive manufacturing hub and a robotics hub. Over 60% of our industrial partnerships are now with the aeronautical sector, especially with the founders of Compositadour, who are Dassault Aviation, Daher, Stelia Aerospace and the Ariane Group. We have diversified, for example by working with the Safran group for about a dozen of its subsidiaries, as well as moving towards other sectors of activity such as energy, sport and leisure, and construction. The platform has more users with SMEs. In 2019, we carried out 65 R&D projects.

In terms of innovations, have you developed technologies resulting in patents being filed? 

We registered two patents in 2018, one in 2019 and two are being prepared for 2020. From now on, we are claiming our intellectual property, but we are not only a research laboratory. Our platform is above all a centre for industrial transfer and our innovations have very short-term applications.

Do you use more sustainable materials now?

That has indeed increased. Although it is important for good environmental awareness, we increasingly use bio-sourced materials because in some cases they provide a real advantage in terms of mechanical performance, for example for the absorption of vibration or for thermal insulation with linen fibre. We also focus a large part of our R&D on the use of composites with a thermoplastic matrix, which offer very interesting prospects for recycling composites.

What are the major projects?

The extension of the building by constructing a further 600 square metres, which will enable us to install a thermoplastic moulding production line to manufacture composite at high speed. The idea is that preforms can be manufactured with our fibre placement robots which can then be press stamped with very rapid cycles. This is a very major investment, delayed of course by the current situation. Another very important point is the accessibility of our technologies. Industrial groups have been able to make major investments and equip themselves; our challenge is to make our technologies accessible to our SMEs. We provide support for start-ups which design much less expensive machines and therefore democratise these technologies.

Website: https://www.compositadour.com/