EURENCO AND ENSTA BRETAGNE CONSOLIDATE THEIR LINKS IN TRAINING AND R&D

Linked by their expertise in energetic materials, pyrotechnics and weapons systems design, the EURENCO Group and the ENSTA Bretagne engineering school are preparing for the future by initiating an extensive partnership covering initial training, continuing education and research.

ENSTA Bretagne’s teaching and research in pyrotechnics is unique in France and of great interest to the EURENCO Group. The themes of pyrotechnics, detonics and, more broadly, the design engineering of complex systems and project management, constitute the core of this partnership.

The main objectives from 2021 are:

• To prepare future engineers for the needs of industry by having EURENCO experts participate in the pyrotechnics courses at ENSTA Bretagne,
• To contribute to the maintenance of the highest level of skills of EURENCO’s employees through access to the continuing education provided by ENSTA Bretagne,
• to accelerate the emergence of technological breakthroughs, by developing training through research and by relying in a complementary manner on the laboratories and experimental means of ENSTA Bretagne and EURENCO.

PYROTECHNICS AND ENERGY MATERIALS ?

Pyrotechnics is all the knowledge acquired on the phenomena of combustion and detonation, as well as all the techniques specific to the manufacture, implementation and practical use of substances that can generate such phenomena. These substances are commonly called “energetic materials” and include powders, propellants and explosives.

Pyrotechnics is an innovative and demanding field of technology, which remains unknown to the general public despite its long history and the fact that some pyrotechnic mechanisms are objects that everyone comes into contact with every day (airbags, distress rockets, hunting or sporting ammunition, etc.).

The industrial applications of pyrotechnics are numerous and concern the automotive sector (gas generators for airbags, seatbelt pretensioners), the defence industry (conventional ammunition, missiles, explosives, armouring), aerospace (space launcher propulsion, satellite deployment), public works (mines, quarries, etc.) as well as the prevention of industrial risks (decontamination, prevention of fires and explosions) or terrorist risks (protection of critical infrastructures).

ENSTA BRETAGNE’S TRAINING AND RESEARCH IN PYROTECHNICS ARE UNIQUE

ENSTA Bretagne is the only engineering school to offer a specialisation in pyrotechnics in France, and equivalent courses abroad are rare.

The objective of the programme is to train mechanical engineers capable of designing pyrotechnic components and integrating them into complex systems, while respecting the physical and regulatory constraints related to the use of energetic materials. The training provided addresses the theoretical (modelling of combustion and detonation phenomena), application (life cycle of energetic materials, self-propulsion, terminal ballistics, pyromechanisms) and regulatory aspects of pyrotechnics.

There are two training courses that allow students to specialise in pyrotechnics:

• general engineering training and specialisation in pyrotechnics (three years of study after a scientific preparatory class; specialisation in years 4 and 5)
• the “pyrotechnics and propulsion” specialised master’s degree (one year of study after a bac+5).

Both courses include a long internship in a company or research centre, which constitutes the end-of-study project and lasts 6 months.

The training is based on research carried out in the field of “Fluids, Structures and Interactions” at the ENSTA Bretagne research centre and in the IRDL laboratory (Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme, UMR CNRS 6027). The work focuses on the one hand on the characterisation and prevention of the effects generated by explosions, and on the other hand on the study of the behaviour of energetic materials subjected to mechanical or thermal stresses.

PRESS CONTACTS

EURENCO

Benjamin Gautier, Group Communication Manager,

b.gautier@eurenco.com

T +33 6 77 56 92 09

ENSTA Bretagne

Ingrid Le Toutouze, Communication Manager ENSTA Bretagne,

ingrid.le_toutouze@ensta-bretagne.fr

T +33 6 79 85 19 80.

Céline Authemayou, press officer ENSTA Bretagne, Canévet & associés agency

celine.authemayou@gmail.com

T +33 6 60 64 16 95.