We are proud to announce that Scientific Visual has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 910978023 and EIT Raw Materials Booster call.

Scientific Visual has been granted support by the European Commission through the SME Instrument for its Automated Inspection Tools for Industrial Crystals.

The Scientific Visual Horizon 2020 project startup date is 1st of April 2018.

Scientific Visual launched a development program for a new line of inspection systems in 2013. The main benefit of this new machines, which are based on several patent principles, is their capacity to inspect optical materials prior the polishing process. It lets manufacturers to avoid significant processing cost related to slicing or polishing initially defective material. Currently defects in sapphire crystals are identified after costly slicing and polishing to transparency. At that moment from 7 to 20% of already processed items are rejected due to internal defects such as cracks, clouds and bubbles.

With automated tools from Scientific Visual the defect inspection process is automated and takes place straight after crystal growth or slicing, therefore only quality sapphire goes to costly processing. The inspection systems ensure that >90% of defective material do not enter production stage.

On top of that the technology allows for a objective defect visualisation and grading with no human judgement involved. Unlike human ocular inspection, the instrumental quality control also sets an objective standard and ensures quick diagnostic feedback to the crystal growing unit.

Scientific Visual automated inspection tools are of use to all participants in the value chain of processing synthetic crystals: crystal growers, slicers, cutters, polishers, end-users and even furnace producers.

The project goal is to extend Scientific Visual inspection technology to new industrial crystals.

Project information for the project on the European Commission website: https://sme.easme-web.eu/?b=910978023