Industrial projects rarely fail for lack of ideas. They fail because the tests do not allow a reliable decision to be made.
- Non-reproducible data
- Non-comparable results
- Impossibility of scaling to industrial level
The cost is not a failed test. The cost is a poor decision made on the basis of an uncertain test.
What Causes
a Test to Fail
Conditions Too Far from Reality
A test only has value if it approximates real production conditions. An unrepresentative sample, a simplified environment, an absent throughput rate: the conclusions do not hold at industrial scale.
Insufficient Metrology
Without a calibrated pyrometer, without systematic recording of curves, you think you have measured. You have merely heated. The data does not allow any reliable decision.
The Unknown Left Unexplored
The best solutions never appear in technical data sheets. Optimal operating points are discovered by testing what nobody has yet tried. That is where the real industrial gains are to be found.
Results Not Capitalised
Without a structured report or a comparative between tests, every project starts from scratch. Accumulated experience never translates into a decision-making advantage.
State-of-the-Art Equipment, Methodological Rigour in the Service of Your Results
The most demanding laboratories choose Sopara for two reasons: the performance of our infrared equipment, and the rigour of our methodological approach. Both together guarantee reliable, traceable and industrially exploitable results, making every test campaign a solid basis for decision-making.
80 Years of Data in the Service of Your Tests
10,000
tests carried out
Expertise accumulated over 25 years of activity
800
documented files
A knowledge base unique to each expert
±10°C
precision at 450°C
High-precision thermal control
< 10 s
failure detection
Automatic real-time identification
90%
radiation efficiency
Maximised energy efficiency
Ovens Designed to Explore, Iterate and Compare
This is what Sopara ovens equipping testing laboratories bring to every campaign: the ability to move faster, test more configurations and investigate territory that standard recommendations do not cover.
Three Technologies, One Objective Comparison
Short-wave IR (1-second inertia), medium-wave IR (10 seconds to 2 minutes inertia), hot air: three technologies tested on the same equipment, under the same conditions. You choose on the basis of measured results, not assumptions.
Iterate Without Waiting
Response time below 5 seconds, near-zero inertia. The oven is ready for the next cycle immediately. Dozens of tests per day where other solutions impose unavoidable waiting times.
Parallelise Campaigns
Dual-cell configuration to produce two series of samples simultaneously. On a campaign of 20 tests, this represents 40 samples without extending working time.
Explore Without Limits
A new formulation, a material repurposed from its standard use, an unprecedented process constraint: Sopara ovens allow these territories to be explored methodically, with the same rigour as on a standard test.
Every Test Brings You Closer to the Industrial Decision
Tests carried out on Sopara ovens do not stop at technical validation. They feed directly into design choices, size the future industrial equipment and secure investments. From the first sample to the production line, every stage is mapped.
Who Has Chosen Sopara
The main French technological research institutes specialising in composite materials are equipped with Sopara ovens and emitters. The R&D centres of industrial leaders make the same choice. When their engineers test a new formulation or a new process, they do so on a Sopara oven.
- IRT Jules Verne, IRT Saint-Exupéry, IRT M2P, CETIM Nantes, ESTIA Compositadour, LIST Luxembourg, École Centrale de Nantes, IPC at Laval
- The internal R&D centres of leaders in floor coverings, industrial paint, automotive and aeronautical composites, carbon materials and high-performance resins
- 30 years of presence in the most demanding laboratories, thousands of tests conducted on hundreds of different materials
Frequently Asked Questions
Sopara ovens are designed to work on a very wide range of materials: thermoplastic and thermoset composites, powder and liquid paints, PVC coatings, technical textiles, carbon materials, resins and adhesives. For 30 years, thousands of tests have been conducted on hundreds of different materials, including new formulations and undocumented applications.
The difference is primarily one of size and throughput. Sopara laboratory ovens are designed for sampling and validation: compact heating zone, fast cycles, near-zero inertia. Certain models are directly transposable to production: the laboratory oven then becomes the starting point of the industrial specification.
Through a systematic calibration procedure before each test: verification of pyrometers via test plates fitted with thermocouples, cross-checked against an external measuring instrument. Regulation is carried out directly on the product, not on the ambient air. Thermal profiles are recorded and exportable, making it possible to compare campaigns conducted several weeks apart.
Yes. Sopara ovens enable testing of short-wave IR, medium-wave IR and hot air under the same conditions, on the same samples. This is a major differentiator: most suppliers offer a single technology. Sopara offers an objective comparison, the results of which feed directly into the choice of industrial architecture.
Sopara tests are designed to reproduce industrial conditions: on-site material application, thickness control, curing, cooling. Thermal profiles programmed in the laboratory (target temperature, rise time, hold) are directly reusable to size the industrial oven. This is what makes every test campaign a solid basis for future investment decisions.
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