The Engineering Center for Advanced Surface Treatment and Coatings (CITRA) is an association of the 1901 Law type.

Its technical skills include:

  • Wet surface treatments and coatings, thermal spraying and vacuum deposition
  • The characterization of the layers obtained

The CITRA office is made up of half university members and half industry members.

CITRA’s purpose

In order to optimize the transfer of technology to industry, CITRA has different ways of development and characterization. Its work in collaboration with the University of Limoges and the laboratory IRCER, allows CITRA to be up to date with the latest research.

CITRA’s location and materials ressources

Its head office is located on ESTER Technopole site, in the premises of the National School of Engineers of Limoges (ENSIL). Technological Transfer Center to promote Surface Treatments in all ways, from the point of view of development, characterization or training (continuous or professional), CITRA has industrial drivers corresponding to several Deposit technologies, namely:

Robotic thermal spray systems (HVOF, APS, Cold-Spray, Arc-wire);

A vacuum deposition machine of the PVD / PECVD type;

A pilot chain of electrolytic surface treatments.

These equipments are installed in the Materials sector of ENSIL-ENSCI, with which CITRA actively collaborates. Through its affiliation with ENSIL-ENSCI and the university, as well as the IRCER laboratory, CITRA can also have access to various existing means of characterization (e.g. X-ray diffraction, nano indentation…).

CITRA’s scope

Since the production constraints of a company do not make it possible to monopolize the work tool for tests or improvements of ranges, the action of CITRA pilots is to set up technical evolutions that produce as faithfully as possible the effect obtained when the company makes the change internally. This is the technological transfer goal to provide solutions for the evolution of a process, minimizing the integration time on an industrial scale, by responding as soon as possible to the final sizing constraints. CITRA thus represents a pole of technological resources in the field of coating and surface treatment, offering customized services to businesses based on the University and Industry know-how and resources. It thus enables companies to come together around a common project to pool their resources and develop complementarities in fields as varied as innovation, professional training, and access to financing and economic intelligence.