Mechanical and Materials Engineering (MME) Group

Design, Simulations and Measurements

The group includes the largest design office at CERN using computer-aided design (CAD) software. 

From the early concepts of a device to its final solution, an engineering unit works in close collaboration with designers.  The unit performs advanced calculations, analyses and numerical simulations to evaluate and improve the components’ behaviour in the extreme conditions of the CERN machines: cryogenic or extremely high temperatures, high radiation, intense magnetic fields or vacuum. 

MME also includes the Mechanical Measurements Laboratory, specialized in mechanical stress and strain, displacement, pressure and vibration measurements required for the CERN devices and their harsh operating conditions. 

Fabrication

The group has internal workshop facilities with state-of-the-art equipment and a sub- contracting unit working in close collaboration with European industries. 

Support is ensured for a wide range of requests: prototyping and feasibility developments, multi-activity and largescale projects, integrating on-site facilities and sub-contracting, expertise consultancies, workshop and field interventions, consolidation and upgrade work including on lightly radioactive items, equipment maintenance and urgent demands. 

Among the core competencies are conventional and high-precision computer numerical control (CNC) machining, sheet-metal forming, welding engineering, production engineering, electron beam welding, laser welding and cutting, vacuum brazing, micrometric 3D metrology and metallic additive manufacturing. 

Material science and Non-Destructive Testing

The group includes materials and Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) competences and facilities for the development, selection, characterisation, quality control and analysis of materials such as metals and their alloys, ceramics or thin films, including destructive, non-destructive and dimensional examinations of materials and components. 

The group also provides dynamic and static measurements at room and cryogenic temperatures, material testing, metallurgical characterization and analysis including by optical, electron microscopy and focus ion beam electron microscopy, image analysis, mechanical testing, X-ray computed tomography and failure analysis. 

Group Structure

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