About the role#
As a Materials Engineering Intern at Freeform, you will help establish and refine materials testing infrastructure for advanced metal 3D printing systems. You will work alongside experienced engineers to study material behavior within the printing process. This role involves building a foundational understanding of metals characterization and applying those insights to support testing and process improvement. You will collaborate with process development, mechanical, and simulation engineers to analyze material property data and post-print characteristics.
What you'll do#
- Assist the Materials Engineering team in operating equipment to measure properties like tensile strength, surface roughness, and microstructure.
- Support the generation and tracking of quality metrics for printed parts, including dimensional accuracy, defect distribution, and surface roughness.
- Organize, analyze, and interpret materials data to help present key findings.
- Assist in developing and optimizing metallurgical sample preparation techniques such as cutting, grinding, polishing, acid etching, and optical microscopy.
- Support the process development team by connecting materials findings to upstream printing process improvements.
- Help establish and refine procedures for measuring and quantifying material quality.
What you'll need#
- Currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in materials science, materials engineering, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, or a related discipline.
- Experience with experimental design and statistical data analysis.
- Strong data analysis skills and the ability to interpret information from large data sets.
- Undergraduate research experience in materials science, metallurgy, or mechanical engineering is preferred.
- Exposure to metallurgical sample preparation techniques like cutting, grinding, polishing, acid etching, and optical microscopy is preferred.
Location & details#
- This is a full-time, on-site internship based in Los Angeles, California.
- The term for this position is Summer 2027.
- This is a paid internship.
About Freeform
Freeform develops manufacturing systems that integrate software, hardware, and physics. The company produces industrial-scale parts using additive manufacturing and machine learning technology. Founded in 2019, the organization is based in Hawthorne, California. It operates with a team of approximately 65 employees.
How to get in at Freeform
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