Docent lecture: Jessica Elfsberg

On Tuesday 15 September at 10:00-12:00, Jessica Elfsberg will give her docent lecture "Cast Iron Parts in Heavy Duty Vehicles” at Jönköping University.

Jessica Elfsberg has a PhD from KTH and is currently employed at Scania CV AB where she works with the development of cast materials for heavy-duty vehicles and engines.

“Cast iron has been used for a few thousand years. Often in applications without high demands on strength. I want to show that cast iron is an advanced, very complicated, material that offers many possibilities,” says Jessica Elfsberg.

“My lecture will focus on how cast iron alloys are used in our products. The various components are exposed to different stresses such as high and low temperatures, cyclic mechanical loads and corrosive environments. The material properties of cast iron vary with chemical composition and manufacturing processes. I will show some examples of what types of cast iron alloys that are selected for different applications,” says Jessica Elfsberg.

In the design process, the need for accurate material models increases to improve the dimensioning of the parts and predict their service life. Ideally, the material models should be based on the structure of the materials. In the long-term collaboration conducted between the Swedish heavy-duty vehicle industry, including Scania CV AB and Jönköping University, the ambition is to develop and validate such models. Another aspect is that castings always contain defects that influences the strength of the parts. Using established fracture mechanical models, a simple tool for assessing how much impact defects of different sizes have on strength has been created.

“I hope that my research can contribute to the heavy-duty vehicle industry using the optimal material for every part,” says Jessica Elfsberg.

In the future, Jessica Elfsberg will continue her employment at Scania CV AB. The work includes the long-term research cooperation with Materials and Manufacturing at Jönköping University as well as the engagement in the board for the Swedish Foundry Association.

Jessica Elfsberg’s docent lecture will be held on 15 September at 10:00-12:00 in B3051, at building B (JIBS).

Contact information

jessica.elfsberg@scania.com