Focus on an industrial: Vermon
For 40 years, Vermon has been designing and manufacturing custom ultrasonic probes and transducers for medical and industrial applications.
Building on its status as a pioneer in ultrasound imaging, and with a team of over 450 professionals in France and the USA, Vermon offers solutions to meet the complex needs of its customers, whether start-ups, major industrial groups or research laboratories.
VERMON's skills allow it to have complete control of design, prototyping, characterization, testing, and also industrialization while respecting normative and regulatory requirements.
Most of the ultrasonic probes developed by Vermon use a piezoelectric material called PZT, which contains lead. For several years now, the RoHS directive has been forcing manufacturers to ban the use of lead in many fields. For the moment, ultrasonic medical applications benefit from regularly renewed exemptions. Nevertheless, it is essential to consider alternative solutions. In this context, the ARD MATEX's SPS-PIEZO project aims to replace piezoelectric materials with others materials that are more responsible for the environment and human health. The plan is to develop new ceramic formulations based on doped K0.5Na0.5NbO3 (KNN) and sintered using a new technique called SPS (Spark Plasma Sintering).
Samples produced during the project will then be integrated into prototype ultrasonic transducers and compared to versions made from leaded material.
The aim is to produce dense, reliable and reproducible lead-free ceramics for a new generation of piezoelectric transducers.
More information on: https://vermon.com/