Innovation
Part and parcel of Saint-Gobain´s strategy in every one of its business sectors, R&D serves several objectives:
• Improving our quality and product performance in existing applications
• Developing new applications
• Optimizing on manufacturing processes and reducing our production costs
• Minimizing the environmental impact of our operations
The R&D activity of Saint-Gobain´s Silicon Carbide Department takes place at five locations:
• Northboro Research and Development Center, Northboro (MA), US
• Centre de Recherche et d’Etudes Européen, Cavaillon, France
• Lillesand Development Centre, Lillesand, Norway
• Barbacena Development Center, Barbacena, Brazil
• Saint-Gobain Research Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Under the global leadership of the Department, our research teams in the French and American centers are active in fundamental technology and new products development.
Our teams in the Norwegian, Brazilian and Chinese centers are more focussed on application engineering, customer support and process improvements. Our major new products developments are often made in cooperation with leading customers, with whom we enter into strict confidentiality agreements.
Typical capabilities of our R&D teams are:
• Customizing all kind of SiC grains and powders by using different of
milling, classification, treatment or agglomeration technologies.
• Characterization of the performance of SiC products, including abrasive
tests, cut-rate tests, chemical analysis.
• Investigation of the micro-structure of green and sintered bodies and
their relationship to firing process parameters.
• Ceramic powder application development with laboratory and pilot
scale equipment.