Thesis Worker

Master thesis worker

About the position

Revealing Oxide Growth Mechanisms in Scrap-Based Steels Through Advanced Surface Analysis

Are you eager to make a difference and contribute to sustainable steel? SSAB invites enthusiastic students to join our innovative product development team for your master’s degree thesis. Here, you will collaborate with experts on cutting-edge projects, gain hands-on experience, and help shape the industry’s future. Apply for doing your master’s thesis with us in Spring 2027, on-site in Borlänge, and play a key role in driving greener solutions in steelmaking.

At SSAB, we strongly believe that embracing diversity and inclusion creates a better workplace for everyone—our employees, our company, and our customers. We are deeply committed to what we do and take genuine pride in our mission. Caring for our customers, our team members, the environment, and the communities where we operate is at the heart of our daily efforts, as is safeguarding our shared future.

Main Responsibilities - The assignment

In striving for lower carbon footprint from the steel making process, iron ore can be replaced by scrap as raw material. During scrap melting and casting, tramp elements such as Cu, Sn, Sb, As, Pb cannot be captured in the slag and removed from the molten steel. Therefore, Cu will accumulate in the circular use of scrap. The Cu is particularly challenging during continuous casting and hot rolling, since Cu easily forms low melting compounds between the growing iron oxide scale and the steel surface at high temperature, i.e. hot shortness. Accumulated copper can penetrate and weaken the steel’s grain boundaries, leading to surface cracks and reduced product quality, see examples at different temperatures in the images below.

The SEM images show cross sections of steel samples exposed at 950 °C, 1050 °C and 1150 °C, respectively for 64 minutes in ambient atmosphere. Accumulated Cu in steel grain boundaries and at the steel/oxide interface is seen in bright contrast.

The aim for this master’s thesis is to determine how some specific steel grades are affected by oxidation at different temperatures in two different relevant tunnel furnace atmospheres. The sample are Pt-coated using PVD before exposure to keep track of the original gas/solid state interface. Advanced surface analysis techniques is utilized to determine the location of tramp elements, which is of special interest. To investigate the diffusion behavior of Cu, one steel grade was also PVD coated with Cu on top of the Pt layer.

Of special interest is to understand the oxide growth in different atmospheres and temperatures and to understand how hot shortness can be mitigated.

The thesis work comprises the following:

Literature review

• Gain knowledge of the diffusion process at different temperatures, how and where tramp elements segregate and about expected growth mechanism for the steels of interest.
• Gain knowledge of the surface hot shortness phenomena.

Experimental and analytical work

• Perform sample preparation and analyze exposed samples (the samples are already exposed).
• Relevant analysis techniques are light optical microscopy (LOM), scanning electron microscopy using x-ray analysis (SEM/EDS), electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) etc.

Reporting

• Summarize and discuss the results from the literature review and the experimental work.
• Make a suggestion of what is the most severe condition and what can mitigate surface hot shortness on low alloy steels.

About You

Are you a master student in metallurgy, materials science, engineering physics, or materials chemistry? We are looking for someone like you—curious, analytical, and ready to take on real challenges. You should have a solid technical background, strong problem-solving abilities, and feel comfortable navigating digital tools including Microsoft 365 suite. Fluency in English is essential, and Swedish skills are a plus.

We value personal qualities just as much as technical competence. If you enjoy collaborating with others, can work both independently and as part of a team, and thrive in an international environment, we would love to hear from you.

Recruitment process

• Apply

• Interview

• Health Examination

Sign

Background check may be a part of the recruitment process. The health check also includes drug testing.

Got questions? Contact us on this position

Josefin Hall, Product Development, [email protected]

Ulf Bexell, Product Development, [email protected]

Word from your supervisor(s)

We are working within product development, have a PhD in materials science and are knowledgeable in the subject as well as in the analysis techniques to be used. Materials (oxidized samples) and some publications to start with will be there for you at start.

This subject might be one of the most interesting things to investigate, so take your chance!