Master Thesis Work Study of Zr-based pre-treatment application on different substrate coatings

About this opportunity - Background

At Vehicle Engineering our responsibility spans the entire chassis interior climate body & exterior functions mechanical Integration and a range of vehicle attributes with impact on design and customer experience of our complete product. Across these domains and all development cycles we will lead an effective delivery operation on a complete level in close sync with other Engineering units functions and stakeholders across the company.

This thesis work is within the area of Surface Treatment BIW at Material Engineering Center.

Substrate coating processes (such as different Zn plating) are used as cathodic protective coating on steel substrate parts and are within VCC requirements towards tier1 suppliers. The purpose is to provide extra protection against galvanic corrosion compared to regular hot-dip galvanization.

Some of these parts are mounted on the car body and get an extra pre-treatment layer from the in-house paint shop before further painting operations.

Zr-based Pre-treatment is a novel method for the in-house car body line and the coating build-up on various surfaces needs further to be analyzed.

XRF is used as the main technique to ensure the quality by measuring the coating weight of the Zr treatment. Initial XRF measurements show unreliable results on e.g. ZnNi and ZnFe coated substrates.

The purpose of the project is to study and understand Zr treatment compatibility with the different substrate surfaces.

Scope of the thesis work

Create an overview of the content of the different surfaces within the car.
Study the effect of galvanic corrosion protection from the different surfaces with and without the Zr treatment.
Analyze the coating weight of Zr treatment on the different substrate coatings using XRF. Investigate any differences.

Expected deliverables:
Create a detailed mapping of different surface protection over the car body.
Define the Zr treatment compatibility with the different substrate coatings.
Suggest qualitative requirements for Zr coating weight on different substrates.

What youll bring

The project is suitable for one student. Cooperation possible with other master thesis students at Material Engineering Center.

The thesis work will be performed at Volvo Cars facilities.

Chemical engineering preferably with a focus on surface chemistry chemical analysis or materials engineering.
Basic skill in surface analysis methods such as SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and XRF (X-ray fluorescence).

Duration

Tentative proposed thesis work period: 19th January 2026 to 26th of June 2026 (dates can be flexible with /- 7 days)
Academic credits: equivalent to 30 ECTS
Number of students: 1 student