Diamond’s Industrial Liaison Office has seen another exciting period of growth, and is proud to announce their 100th client; local imaging start-up company 3Dmagination.
3Dmagination is located in close proximity to Diamond on the Harwell site and provides advanced services and bespoke training in 3D and 4D imaging. They have formed several strategic partnerships with training institutions, companies, and academics (CACEMI-CNAM Paris, FEI, STFC, and University of Manchester) to deliver training courses with a good balance between theoretical and practical content. They have access to state-of-the-art laboratory scanners and synchrotron-based tomography imaging from the nano to the macro scale, and are equipped with a range of in situ rigs to capture dynamic processes in service or during manufacturing processes. They advise customers on the best imaging platforms, and offer a full and fast analysis service (including sample preparation, 3D/4D scanning, data storage, data analysis, and technical reporting). Part of their time is also dedicated to proof-of-concept studies in collaboration with academic/business partners, which are absolutely essential to fund new research projects and support business growth.
3Dmagination is the brainchild of two French scientists, Dr Kamel Madi and Dr Loïc Courtois (pictured, with Dr Madi on the left), who have a passion for 3D X-ray imaging techniques and a multidisciplinary academic/industrial background in materials, mechanics and manufacturing. They first met during their time working with The Diamond Manchester Collaboration at the Research Complex at Harwell, but just happen to come from the same town in the south-east of France! Their experience gained, both through their PhDs and their time as postdocs, generated creative ideas, endless exchanges, and passionate debates about how to push and expand the boundaries of 3D imaging to overcome current and future challenges.
3Dmagination recently started working with Diamond's Industrial Liaison scientists to apply the unique properties of 3rd generation synchrotron radiation (high flux, brightness, and coherence) to exploit both absorption and phase contrast information, or when imaging dynamic processes very quickly. They used the Diamond Manchester Imaging Branchline (I13-2) to carry out in-line phase contrast studies in combination with pink beam, addressing a challenging research question with a fast turnaround for their client Dr Daniela Lavric, based at Corning’s European Technology Centre in Paris.
Going forward, 3Dmagination will continue to use the imaging facilities available on I13-2 and the Joint Engineering, Environmental, and Processing beamline (JEEP – I12). There is also a growing demand for correlative tomography, which aims at combining data from different 3D imaging modalities (e.g. absorption, diffraction, and spectroscopy) on the same sample. As such, they anticipate extending their use of Diamond to include additional beamlines in future.
Two examples of 3Dmagination’s imaging work: Zirconia-Rich fused cast refractory (left, in collaboration with MINES ParisTech) and a monofilament entangled material (right, in collaboration with MATEIS/INSA).
The achievement of reaching 100 clients clearly demonstrates both the pivotal role that industrial engagement plays at Diamond and the value that companies place on the services that Diamond offers. This growth in usage of Diamond by industrial clients has, in turn, led to expansion of the Industrial Liaison Office. In the last few months we have welcomed post-doctoral researcher Sin-Yuen Chang who will be working on soft X-ray spectroscopy applications and Marco Mazzorana who joins the team as an Industrial Liaison Scientist (maternity cover) for Macromolecular Crystallography. We also welcome Renjie Zhang as Lab Manager in the Fragment soaking facility.
New Industrial Liaison Office team members: (L-R) Dr Sin-Yuen Chang, Dr Marco Mazzorana, and Mr Renjie Zhang.