Tailored technical support for your aluminium projects

The Centre d’expertise et d’innovation sur l’aluminium (CeiAl) is an initiative from AluQuébec in order to diffuse knowledge on standards and alloys, to relay good practices and to offer technical support to professionals from the industry. The CeiAl aims to encourage the use of aluminium, especially in sectors such as transportation equipment, infrastructures and bridges, and sustainable construction and buildings.

In 2020, the team at Alcoa Innovation merged to the CeiAl’s team. The combined service offer cements the CeiAl as a reference in terms of technical expertise for the whole aluminium transformation industry in Québec with the collaboration of other organizations of the network.

The CeiAl team accompanies businesses, professionals and contractors with the aim of facilitating the use and encouraging the integration of aluminium.

AluQuébec’s CeiAl is a partner in the development of concepts that will enable carrying out innovative projects with aluminium.

In the case of mandates of competitive and confidential nature, the CeiAl’s works will be invoiced. All developed intellectual property will be the exclusive property of the contractor. By no means the CeiAl will sign project plans or manufacturing quotes.

Please contact the CeiAl team to discuss your projects or if you have any questions on aluminium.

The CeiAl team

Yves Archambault, ing.

Senior Engineer
[email protected]
418 717-1055

Expertise

  • Project manager (including RD)
  • Aluminium fabrication processes (machining, metal forming and milling)
  • Aluminium shaping processes
  • Company training instructor

Sectors of activity

  • Aluminium transformation
  • Transportation industry
  • Manufacturing industry

Certifications and training

  • Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke
  • Member of the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ)
  • Member of the scientific committee of the Centre Québécois de recherche et de développement de l’aluminium (CQRDA)

Petrino Buzatu, ing. M. Ing.

Mechanical Design Engineer
[email protected]
514 467-4588

Expertise

  • Design of products and processes for aluminium transformation
  • 2D and 3D computer-assisted design 
  • Finite element analysis
  • Aluminium shaping processes, design and prototyping
  • Analysis of constraints and resistance of materials
  • Heat transfer
  • Mechanical tests

Sectors of activity

  • Aluminium transformation
  • Transportation industry
  • Agricultural equipment, wood, printing and lighting

Certifications and training

  • Masters degree in Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnique de Montréal
  • Member of the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ)
  • Mechanical engineering, Craiova University, Romania
  • Specialization in aeronautical assembly
  • Specialization in machine construction technologies

Alain Chapdelaine, Eng. M. Eng.

Mechanical Engineer Analyst
[email protected]
514 466-1992

Expertise

  • Design of products and processes for aluminium transformation
  • Finite element modelling
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Mathematical modelling of molten metal flow and heat transfers
  • Design and optimization of recycling processes and metal treatment
  • Efficiency enhancement of casting furnaces by stirring molten metal
  • Efficiency enhancement of the filtration of molten metal
  • Efficiency enhancement of the scrapping process of aluminium scraps on a fluidized bed

Sectors of activity

  • Primary aluminium (casthouses)
  • Transformation industry
  • Transportation industry

Certifications and training

  • Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnique de Montréal
  • Member of the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ)

Mario Fafard, Eng., Ph.D.

Expert consultant
[email protected]
418 254-2456

Expertise

  • Expert in aluminium bridges and footbridges
  • Design and solution analysis of aluminium planking on road bridges
  • Research on innovative uses of aluminium decks in bridges
  • New concept of a single span crate bridge
  • Dynamics of bridges
  • Dynamics of structures (bridge-vehicle interactions)
  • Analysis of total cost of ownership
  • Advanced modelling of electrolysis tanks
  • Thermo-mechanical behavior of anodes and cathodes
  • Hall-Héroult tank
  • Finite element modelling of structures
  • Creep/relaxation
  • Carbonated materials
  • Multi-physical modelling
  • Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM)
  • Thermodynamics of irreversible processes applied to a porous environment

Sectors of activities

  • Primary aluminium
  • Transformation industry
  • Infrastructures and bridges

Certifications et formations

  • Fellow at the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering
  • Industrial Research Chair – Advanced modelling of electrolysis tanks and energetic efficiency
  • Doctorate in Civil Engineering, Université Laval
  • Guest professor at Université Laval
  • Member of the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ)
  • Founder of the Research Centre on aluminium – RÉGAL
  • More than 100 technical publications in scientific journals
  • Co-owner of a patent - Process for manufacturing carbon anodes for aluminium production cells and carbon anodes obtained from the same

Expertise partners

Created in 1985, Quebec Metallurgy Center is a technological transfer college centre integrated to the Cégep de Trois-Rivières, aiming to support the technological development of manufacturing enterprises in the province.

The team comprises of researchers, engineers and professors who conjugate expertise and experience. The CMQ offers an incomparable access to a pool of knowledge on metallic materials and the processes.

For more than 20 years, AGÉCO Group has been at the forefront of the agri-food economy and corporate responsibility. They help their clients make the right decisions to take advantage of their business environment. Their acquisition of the activities of Quantis Canada in 2015 allows them to offer a complete service in corporate responsibility, in its social, economic and environmental dimensions.

The Centre of Research on aluminium – REGAL, is a strategic clustering focused on research around aluminium, from its primary production, to the development of shaping and design processes, leading to the conception of new alloys. A synergy is created by uniting researchers from seven Québec learning institutions, enterprises and diverse socio-economical actors of the industry.