Terahertz-sensing startup Teratonics pushes ahead in the real-time nondestructive testing market

By John Wallace 

https://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2019/03/terahertz-sensing-startup-teratonics-pushes-ahead-in-the-real-time-nondestructive-testing-market.html


Teratonics, a start-up based in the French Paris-Saclay business cluster with a terahertz-radiation-based sensing technology intended for contactless nondestructive testing (NDT) and imaging, has received a seed investment from Socomore Ventures -- the corporate venture fund of Groupe Socomore, which specializes in chemicals and materials focused on the aerospace industry. Groupe Socomore is very interested in surface treatment for bonding and is active in surface preparation, treatment, protection, and NDT.

Teratonics was founded in 2017 by researchers from the chemical-physical laboratory (LCP) at Paris-Sud University / CNRS. They developed (and have patented) a new pulsed terahertz technology that allows them to perform dimensional measurement and detect defects inside electrical insulating materials. These materials include plastics, composites, welded or glued assemblies, and coatings. Teratonics systems are suitable for 100% in-line testing to ensure and control production quality, says the company.

The founding team of Teratonics graduated from IncubAlliance in 2015 and was selected by the accelerator Wilco in 2017. In 2018, the company earned the DeepTech4Good prize in the Industry 4.0 category as a high-potential European Deep Tech startup. Teratonics partnered with Trexel to distribute its integrated NDT solution in the mold injection market. It will use the funds provided by Socomore Ventures to further accelerate its growth and to address a larger variety of applications.

"We are enthusiastic about Socomore Ventures' investment in our company, which for us is much more than just capital," says Uli Schmidhammer, founder and CEO of Teratonics. "It gives us the opportunity to develop exciting synergies, especially with their Non-Destructive Testing Business Unit. We are deeply convinced that their industrial background and the quality and breadth of their network in the defense and aerospace markets will significantly boost our growth."

Teratonics' single-shot pulsed terahertz 3D sensing can be directly deployed on production lines and in maintenance workshops thanks to its speed, which Teratonics says is 10 million times faster than the state of the art (and does not need any radio protection).