Materials and Processes for High Performance Products

The French National Research Agency (ANR) launches in 2013 a call for proposals within the framework of the “Materials and Processes for High Performance Products” programme. The aim of this programme is to finance the best projects in partnership between universities, research centers and industrial companies. The duration of each project selected is between 3 and 4 years.

This call for proposals aims at encouraging scientific actors of different domains such as materials science, process engineering, chemistry, mechanics, physics, mathematics, to interact together around a common goal. The call also aims at the development of successful materials solutions in response to needs expressed by society, both in terms of major challenges (energy, CO2, sustainability, resources, etc.) but also in terms of competitiveness.

The scientific and technological stakes are such that they require a strong interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary approach to generate new or improved solutions. Multi-scale, multi-physics and multi-disciplinary approaches provide real potential to increase knowledge in the field of materials and improve understanding of the structure/in-service property relation. The 2013 call for proposalsconsists of three main areas:

• Theme 1: Raw materials, materials and strategic metals : economy, substitution, recycling and reduction of environmental impact
• Theme 2: Materials and functionality for competitive products
• Theme 3: Innovative and improved processes

The contribution to the solution of the problems addressed, from the numerical simulation and its interaction with experimental approaches, is highly desirable and will be integrated into these three axes.

The programme is also open to Franco-German bilateral projects, in partnership with the ANR and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), dealing with problems involving only one theme and strategic materials. A specific appendix detailing the modalities of the cooperation will be available soon.