Description
Evaluate and develop metals and alloys, designing extraction, refining, forming, heat treatment, and joining processes to meet performance, reliability, and cost targets. Conduct failure analysis and microstructural characterization, optimize metallurgical quality from melt to finished parts, and guide alloy selection, specifications, and compliance in manufacturing.
- • Analyze metallurgical failures using fractography, mechanical tests, and microstructural analysis to determine root causes and corrective actions.
- • Monitor in-service metal performance and deterioration, including wear, fatigue, and corrosion.
- • Supervise metallurgical technicians, technologists, and collaborating engineers.
- • Design and oversee metallurgical test plans and process control procedures.
- • Evaluate alloy specifications, process windows, and cost trade-offs for product and process design.
- • Develop and optimize heat treatments and thermomechanical processing to achieve target properties.
- • Guide teams in developing and qualifying new alloys and metal matrix materials for specific applications.
- • Plan and run laboratory programs to develop fabrication procedures meeting cost, specification, and performance targets.
- • Specify metal forming, machining, and welding/joining methods, including WPS/PQR development.
- • Train production staff and customers on metallurgical principles, new alloys, and processing methods.
- • Supervise trials and operations in melt shops, foundries, rolling mills, forging, heat-treat, and welding cells.
- • Publish or contribute to technical papers, standards, and trade publications.
- • Use computational tools to model phase transformations, properties, residual stress, and distortion.
- • Ensure compliance with relevant standards and codes (e.g., ASTM, AWS, ASME, AMS).
- • Present metallurgical findings to stakeholders and at technical conferences.
- • Conduct and supervise testing of melt chemistry, microcleanliness, mechanical properties, and finished part conformance.
- • Prepare proposals, budgets, technical reports, and ROI analyses for metallurgical projects.
- • Collaborate across mechanical, chemical, manufacturing, and quality engineering to resolve metal-related issues.
- • Plan and evaluate metallurgical R&D and production projects with stakeholders.
- • Recommend alloy selection and temper/condition to meet strength, weight, heat resistance, conductivity, and cost goals.
- • Design or specify melting, casting, heat-treat, and finishing equipment and shop layouts.
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
