Master Thesis: Evaluation of new aluminum alloys with extreme demands on sh

The research institute Swerim provides applied research within mining engineering, process metallurgy and materials and manufacturing engineering, mainly for the mining, steel and metals industry. Swerim has 190 co-workers in two locations in Sweden - Luleå and Stockholm.

Background

Formability is a very important property for sheet metals. The simplest measure of sheet formability is the elongation in a tensile test. However, for many applications this is not a sufficiently accurate metric of the performance. Hence, other experimental-assessable metrices are needed. Furthermore, models linking materials microstructure to these metrices are very important for development of new and better materials.  
 
Project description
In your thesis, you will evaluate a range of aluminum alloys developed to meet extreme demands on formability. You will evaluate mechanical testing data, perform microstructure characterization as well as crystal plasticity modelling. The model will use the microstructure data as input and the goal is to reproduce the experimental data obtained from mechanical testing. The project is in collaboration with Gränges, a world leading producer of aluminum sheets. 
 
 Objectives and learning outcome
* Literature survey including review of formability of aluminum sheet metal and formability testing.
* Preparation of metallographic samples and acquisition of high-quality electron diffraction data
* Understanding of mechanical properties in metals and how those can be modeled.
* Scientific publication.

Required qualifications
Student in material science, physics, chemistry, or related area. Experience within metallographic analysis and/or material modelling is a bonus. The work should be initiated during the beginning of 2023. The master student performing the work will gain a large industry network. Swerim rewards the student with 50 000 SEK for an approved master thesis (30hp).  
 
Contact
For further information about project, please contact: 
David Lindell, david.lindell@swerim.se

Interested?
Feel free to contact us by completing the form below no later than December 20h, 2022. You will receive a confirmation that Swerim has received your application. We look forward to hearing more about you and what you want to contribute with us.