Welcome to the official page of iMMC (Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering)!

At iMMC, over 200 researchers are advancing knowledge and driving innovation in mechanics, materials science, and civil engineering.

Our mission? To deepen scientific understanding and develop solutions to real-world and pressing societal challenges. Through the creation of scientific knowledge and technological breakthroughs, we contribute to a better, more sustainable future across a wide range of domains: biomedical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, chemical engineering, computational engineering, dynamical and electromechanical systems, energy, fluid and solid mechanics, and materials processing and characterization.

Our goal: to contribute to happier humanity and sustainable development through impactful science.

iMMC in numbers

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Latest news

2025-11-10

How can you turn your research idea into real-world impact?

Our institute recently hosted an internal event dedicated to exploring how research can make a tangible difference beyond the lab.

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2025-11-10

Motion Capture at LEMSC: From Iron Man to Structural Engineering

The LEMSC laboratory has recently expanded its experimental setup with a new eight-camera motion capture system from Vicon.

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2025-10-20

We’re hiring!

UCLouvain is recruiting one full-time professor in Biomedical Engineering.

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Upcoming events

Learning to Fly: Harnessing High-Performance Computing and Machine Learning for Sustainable Aviation by Paola Cinnella (Université Sorbonne)

Advances in high-performance computing (HPC) enable the simulation of complex, multiscale flow phenomena relevant to aerospace with unprecedented accuracy, generating vast high-fidelity datasets. In parallel, scientific machine learning (SML) is rapidly transforming the physical sciences. When combined, SML and HPC promise a step change in predictive capabilities and computational efficiency for CFD, with potential impact on decarbonizing aviation and other carbon-intensive sectors. Yet, key challenges remain: selecting informative training data, generalizing to out-of-distribution conditions, and quantifying predictive uncertainty. In this talk, Paola will explore how the synergy between HPC and SML can be harnessed to accelerate sustainable aviation, and highlight current bottlenecks and research directions toward trustworthy, scalable ML-enhanced CFD.

PhD Defense : Immobilizing RuBisCO on Biocatalytic Membrane Contactors for CO2 Capture and Utilization by Kamyll DAWN COCON (IMAP)

Decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors needs CO₂-to-value routes, yet CO₂’s stability makes CCU energy-intensive. This thesis presents a systematic development of biocatalytic membrane contactors for CCU, using RuBisCO, the primary enzyme for CO₂ fixation in Nature, as the central biocatalyst. Although RuBisCO plays a key role in photosynthesis, its practical application is hindered by slow kinetics, poor CO₂/O₂ selectivity, and poor stability in-vitro. To address these challenges, three main strategies were employed: (i) a CO₂-philic polyionic liquid (PIL) coating to enhance local CO₂ availability, (ii) dendrimer-like hierarchical silica nanoparticles (DHSN) to maximize enzyme loading, and (iii) bio-based polylactic acid (PLA) membranes to improve sustainability. Carbonic anhydrase (CA) was used as a model enzyme to guide initial optimization. The optimized PIL coating created a CO₂- and H₂O-rich microenvironment, significantly enhancing enzyme activity. Two-step covalent immobilization improved enzyme stability in-vitro, while DHSN carriers enabled increased RuBisCO loading and system productivity, though specific activity remained lower than free RuBisCO. PLA membranes supported enzyme immobilization but suffered from limited chemical durability. Co-localization of CA with RuBisCO revealed that CA could deplete local CO₂, reducing RuBisCO productivity in this configuration. This work delivers the first comprehensive evaluation of RuBisCO-based biocatalytic membrane contactors for CCU, highlighting the importance of material selection, immobilization strategy, and system integration. The results emphasize both the promise and the technical challenges of RuBisCO for high-value CO₂ conversion, and reinforce the need for early sustainability assessment. Recommendations for future research include controlling enzyme orientation, exploring greener solvents and crosslinkers, applying machine learning for material optimization, and integrating life cycle analysis for sustainable process design.

Membres du jury :

Prof. Patricia Luis (UCLouvain)(Promoteur)
Prof. Hadrien Rattez (UCLouvain) (Président)
Prof. Francesco Contino (UCLouvain) (Secrétaire)
Prof. Patrice Soumillion (UCLouvain)
Prof. Grégoire Leonard (University of Liège)
Prof. Wenjing Zhang (Technical University of Denmark)

Soutenance publique également accessible par visio-conférence via le lien (TEAMS) :

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MmZiNGFhMTktNWQ5OS00MDljLWI0ZjAtOTI2OGRlNWYwNDg5%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%227ab090d4-fa2e-4ecf-bc7c-4127b4d582ec%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22e6918f74-1b26-4028-8c76-87ebba3d97ad%22%7d

Frontal Polymerization: A Novel, Fast, and Energy-efficient Approach for the Manufacturing of Thermoset Polymers and Composites

Traditional manufacturing techniques of thermoset-matrix fiber-reinforced composites rely primarily on the bulk polymerization of the resin. In addition to the substantial capital investments associated with the need for autoclaves, ovens, or heated molds, the long and complex heat and pressure cycles involved in the thermal curing process result in a time-consuming and energy-intensive manufacturing process. Frontal Polymerization (FP), which involves a polymerization wave that propagates through a monomer converting it to polymer, has been demonstrated over the past few years by the Autonomous Materials Systems research group at the University of Illinois (Robertson et al., Nature, 2018) as an alternative approach to eliminate the need for autoclaves and make the process substantially (by orders of magnitude) faster and more energy efficient.

In this talk, I will discuss experimental and computational results on FP-based manufacturing of thermoset polymers and composites based on three different processes: Vacuum-Assisted Resing Transfer Molding (VARTM), 3D printing, and growth printing. The presentation will also cover current research activities in the deployment of FP-based manufacturing in low-earth orbit.

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Events

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Learning to Fly: Harnessing High-Performance Computing and Machine Learning for Sustainable Aviation by Paola Cinnella (Université Sorbonne)

PhD Defense : Immobilizing RuBisCO on Biocatalytic Membrane Contactors for CO2 Capture and Utilization by Kamyll DAWN COCON (IMAP)

Frontal Polymerization: A Novel, Fast, and Energy-efficient Approach for the Manufacturing of Thermoset Polymers and Composites