Rouages: “I feel like I’m breaking through deadlocks”
Yvan Duhamel is a mechanical manufacturing engineer at the Pro 3D platform within the Engineering, Characterization, and Services (ICS) research support unit. He assists students, researchers, and industry professionals in using 3D printers and in understanding the field known as additive manufacturing. He tells us about this career that inspires him in Rouages, the video series produced by the University of Montpellier. Action!
A motorcycle unlike any other takes center stage in the main hall of the Pro3D platform. It’s unlike any other because, if you look closely, some of its parts are made using… 3D printing. Or, more precisely, additive manufacturing, as Yvan Duhamel, the platform’s director, explains. He oversaw the production of these components by the mechanical engineering students.
A pioneer in every sense of the word
And it was a pioneer we went to interview that morning in Building 1 on the Triolet campus. Back when the idea of seeing an object come out of a printer was still considered something of a marvel, Yvan Duhamel was already involved in the field. “I started using 3D printers in 2010, at the University of Technology of Compiègne where I was in charge of the FabLab.” A mechanical design engineer, he quickly specialized in additive manufacturing, and when the University of Montpellier created the Pro3D platform in 2016, it was only natural that he would find his place there.
Today, Pro3D, along with five otherUM platforms, is partUM Engineering, Characterization, and Services (ICS) research support unit and houses a total of 28 3D printers, most of which print with polymer materials—those colorful spools of filament found on the shelves.
Isolated in a room is a machine of a different caliber: a metal 3D printer, a much rarer device that few users have access to—and for goodreason: “You have to take a number of precautions to use it. “I’m the only one with access to it,” the engineer explains as he dons a suit straight out of a sci-fi movie, topped with a tube connected to a filtering mask“to prevent inhaling metal particles.”
From perfumes to airplanes…
There’s no shortage of activity on the platform, starting with the training of students, whom Yvan Duhamel introduces to the use of 3D printers and the design of parts. Most are enrolled in mechanical engineering, but some come from other fields as well.“There is, in particular, a General Education course on additive manufacturing in the first year of the bachelor’s program at the Faculty of Sciences,” explains the head of Pro3D.“Others sometimes arrive with very specific projects; for example, this year three students from the master’s program in Cosmetics, Flavors, and Fragrances Engineering came to create a prototype to present their project at the U’Cosmetics 2026 competition and won the final.”
Unique, custom-made parts that can also meet the needs of researchers in their scientific projects. “Sometimes I simply help them print parts they’ve already designed themselves, but often I design the part using computer-aided design software,” explains the engineer. Among the unlikely parts produced by Pro 3D: an aircraft injector for a fluid mechanics lab, an electronic housing designed to study the sleep patterns of a migrating elephant seal, and a suction cup to record a whale’s heart rate over several hours.“Then I get videos of someone in a swimsuit on a Zodiac boat harpooning whales with suction cups,” smiles Yvan Duhamel. Beyond the anecdote, it’s the feeling of helping to advance research that matters most. “When I meet with researchers who have no background in mechanics and are stuck on a problem, I feel like I’m helping to break the deadlock. And for rates they never even imagined.”
All the way to the moon!
“I also work with manufacturers, and the largest parts I’ve printed are nozzles made of Inconel, a metal alloy, for rocket engines,” explains Yvan Duhamel, who particularly enjoys the diversity of his collaborations. “I work with scientists from different backgrounds, and to understand their needs, I have to understand their field—and I really feel like I’m learning something new every day!”
But one of the tasks that takes up the most of his time is maintaining and repairing all the printers that break down. “There are about fifteen self-service printers for students, so there are always a few breakdowns, and fixing them takes a lot of time. ” And a lot of walking for Yvan, who, when he’s not in the parts room, spends his days going back and forth between his office and the printers without complaining about the distance. “Since I’ve been working at the University, I’ve found an environment that I enjoy and that challenges me.” That’s enough to make a good impression.