After a few years of postdoctoral research in France, Camille Pauzon has returned to Chalmers as an Assistant Professor. Recruited through a global initiative aimed at attracting top talents to the university, she will work within the thematic area Space to explore how additive manufacturing can create novel, sustainable and high-performance materials.
Camille Pauzon was one of the very first PhD students at Centre for Additive Manufacture – Metal, CAM², joining when the centre was still in its early stages.
“When I started, there were only two other PhD students working with additive manufacturing in the group. The first machine had just been bought, and we got training on it as it was installed. It was very exciting to be there at the very beginning,” says Camille Pauzon.
Explored materials and processes as postdoc
Her PhD project was supported by the German industrial gas company Linde, which gave her insight into both academic and industrial perspectives. After completing her PhD, she moved to France for postdoctoral research at the SIMaP laboratory in Grenoble. Her first postdoc focused on novel aluminium alloys for additive manufacturing in collaboration with the company Constellium.
Supported by a European Marie Curie postdoctoral scholarship, she was later able to pursue her own project on metallic glasses, materials with disordered atomic structures that offer unique properties.
“During my PhD, I focused on the effect of the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process atmosphere using process monitoring, while my postdoc work focused on advanced characterization of the materials themselves. That combination gave me a broader perspective than I had before.”
Returning to a growing research environment
During her time abroad, Camille Pauzon maintained collaborations with researchers at Chalmers and is now returning to develop her own research direction. She highlights the research environment, the strong infrastructure, and the collaborative network.
“The lab has grown a lot since I started in 2016. There’s advanced technology, strong industrial partnerships, and a very international, inclusive environment. We also have access to rare characterization tools, like atom probe tomography (APT). There are very few in the world, and it’s accessible here at Chalmers.”
Additive manufacturing for space
As Assistant Professor, she will focus on additive manufacturing for space, with an emphasis on sustainability and material innovation.
“I want to support industry in the implementation of their production, but I also want to explore novel materials and the sustainability aspect. Additive manufacturing is a promising sustainable alternative to challenge other process routes, but there’s still work to do before it’s truly competitive.”
Additive manufacturing is a promising sustainable alternative to challenge other process routes, but there’s still work to do before it’s truly competitive.
Lightweight structures with minimal waste
Camille Pauzon sees significant potential for additive manufacturing in space. The ability to build complex, lightweight structures with minimal waste makes it particularly attractive for space applications, where weight and component efficiency are critical.
“You can put material exactly where it is needed to fulfill a function, instead of starting from a large cast ingot for example. This reduces waste, allows for more optimized, lightweight designs, and lets you consolidate parts, cutting down the number of manufacturing steps.”
Another interesting aspect is multi-material printing, which allows different materials to be combined in a single part.
“You can combine copper for conductivity and nickel for strength in complex designs that would otherwise be impossible. Since we build the material along with the part, it behaves differently, and we’re still learning how to fully harness these effects. This opens up new possibilities for high-performance components in space applications”.
- Assistant Professor, Materials and Manufacture, Industrial and Materials Science