Providing the material evidence needed to qualify your defense systems

The qualification of defense systems requires demonstrating the compliance of materials, surface treatments, assemblies, and components with technical, regulatory, and contractual requirements. During development, industrialization, supplier control, or post-failure investigation, manufacturers must have robust analytical evidence to confirm a composition, characterize contamination, verify coating thickness, identify a material defect, or document a failure mechanism. FILAB supports these needs with a tailor-made approach to materials characterization, adapted to the performance, reliability, and traceability constraints of the sector.

The first step often consists in confirming the nature of an alloy, polymer, coating, deposit, or residue. This approach makes it possible to compare a material against its reference standard, verify consistency with a technical specification, or objectively identify a supplier drift. FILAB carries out investigations into composition, contamination, and the presence of additives or trace elements in order to strengthen your qualification files and root-cause analysis.

FILAB uses a range of advanced techniques depending on the issue: SEM-EDX for observation and elemental microanalysis, XPS and TOF-SIMS for surface chemical analysis, FTIR for compound identification, ICP-MS and other ICP techniques for element screening and quantification, as well as chromatographic methods such as GC/MS, HS-GC/MS, HPLC, or LC/HRMS depending on the nature of the substances to be characterized. This complementarity makes it possible to obtain a detailed understanding of the material, its surface, and its chemical environment.

Choosing FILAB means relying on an independent laboratory with accreditations and recognitions sought after in high-demand industrial environments. The approvals and recognitions obtained from major players such as Nadcap, Safran, Dassault, Airbus, and Liebherr strengthen the credibility of the results produced within sensitive projects. This position makes FILAB a relevant partner for qualification, inspection, expertise, and non-conformity management needs.

An independent laboratory accredited ISO 17025 by COFRAC for part of its activities, FILAB supports manufacturers with PhD-level experts and engineers specialized in chemical analysis, surface analysis, fractography, and materials expertise. The laboratory works on qualification, inspection, comparison against reference standards, non-conformity investigations, and technical decision support. Its recognitions include Nadcap, Safran, Dassault, Airbus, and Liebherr, a major asset for players seeking a credible analytical partner in demanding environments. To discover the full range of services, visit our Materials Laboratory page.

In defense applications, performance also depends on the quality of surfaces and functional layers. Surface chemical analysis makes it possible to confirm the nature of a treatment, while cross-section observations provide information on uniformity, thickness, adhesion, or the presence of delamination. These data are essential for assessing service life, corrosion resistance, process compatibility, and manufacturing repeatability.

For failure analysis, FILAB carries out fractographic expertise to locate the crack initiation point, track its propagation, and highlight any material defects, external stresses, or contamination that may have caused the damage. For surface treatments, cross-section analysis and topographical examinations provide decisive information on coating thickness, homogeneity, and integrity. Learn more about our expertise via Filab A Laboratory Serving Industry and about our Liebherr Aerospace Approved Filab Laboratory.

Beyond testing, FILAB supports its clients in defining the study plan, selecting methods, interpreting results, and formalizing conclusions useful to the project. This approach saves time, reduces analytical uncertainty, and delivers outputs that can be used by quality, materials, process, R&D, and industrialization teams. To learn more about our capabilities in materials characterization, also visit our Materials Laboratory page.

To initiate your project, you should provide your qualification objectives, specifications, inspection plans, material references, and any non-conformity findings. FILAB can then define a suitable analysis plan, select the relevant techniques, carry out the tests, and deliver interpreted results. Depending on your needs: define the scope of the study, characterize the materials and surfaces, verify the compliance of a treatment, identify the origin of a failure, document the analytical evidence required for your qualification file.