After my graduation as civil engineer in material sciences from the catholic university of Louvain in 2002, I got my PhD in 2007 in material science from the University of Brussels. The project was a collaboration with the private company Advanced Coating S.A. and aimed to develop the new cold spray process.
After this project, I continued with a post-doc project aiming to achieve an anti-erosion coating on epoxy based carbon fiber composites. I left the academic world with a brief stay in Laborelec were I discovered the materials used in classical power plants. These last 6,5 years in the aerospace have been challenging. Several new planes have been developed and I had a lot of opportunity to develop my knowledge in aluminium alloys, titanium alloys used for structural applications. I also developed my knowledge in material testing and statistical definition mechanical properties.
The opportunity to work at Sirris on additive manufacturing was the opportunity to have some continuity with his PhD topic. He currently works on powder bed additive manufacturing by electron and laser melting. His background on powder metallurgy was a strong background that allowed him to understand the technology quite rapidly. Thomas is responsible of the current aerospace projects and supporting the design, fabrication, and understanding of the manufacturing process.