About us
IMCE NV was founded in 1995 by Adriaan Brebels, Theo Bollen and Bart Bollen. Actually the initial developments already started in the early 90’s. Like many technological companies, we started in a garage or even better in the attic.
At that time, the impulse excitation technique (IET) existed for more than 3000 years. When the first ceramic pots were produced, the craftsman knocked at their pots to check the ‘quality’. When IMCE was founded our first developments, the IET was already standardized (ASTM C1259). Our intension was – and still is – to bring the technique to a next level. Therefore, IMCE focused on the development of a robust signal analysis algorithm on a PC-based system which enables a very good signal analysis even under very rough circumstances with short signal lengths.
Parallel with the development of the maths, IMCE developed it’s own product line of high temperature systems. Dedicated furnace systems have been developed to overcome the shortcomings of furnaces that are standard available in the market. IMCE’s High temperature measurement systems allow our users to increase the temperature range to which their materials can be measured. These developments facilitates IET measurements in a wide range of environmental conditions (temperatures, atmospheres …) and material applications like metals, ceramics, composites, refractories, building materials, coatings and many more.
Over the past decades, IMCE has upgraded and extended their product range with robust room temperature measurement systems as well as temperature dependent systems, such as furnaces and temperature chambers. This enables several, worldwide companies and universities to research more than 15 different material properties with a high quality non-destructive material characterization tool.
As we reflect on our journey, we remain dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, transforming challenges into opportunities, and advancing the field of material characterization for the benefit of industries and research communities globally.
RFDA Measurement Systems for Material Characterization & Product Inspection
IMCE provides measurement systems and services to characterize elastic material properties such as Young’s modulus, shear modulus, Poisson’s ratio and internal friction. The Resonant Frequency and Damping Analyzer (RFDA) is based on the impulse excitation technique in other words the analysis of the vibration signal from an impacted specimen. IMCE’s advanced material analysis software and innovative hardware technology provide state of the art solutions for R&D laboratories, both academic and industrial as well as research institutes. IMCE offers a material testing method to characterize elastic properties according to ISO, ASTM and EN -standards at room temperature as well as high temperature.
Benefits of RFDA measurement devices
- Non-destructive measurement of elastic properties as well as damping properties (Q-1)
- Large temperature range: -80 °C – 1700 °C
- Applicable to porous and brittle materials due to small strains
- Information about internal structure as well as damage
- Reliable, fast and easy accessible measurement technique
- Limited restrictions on sample geometry and dimensions