Role Overview

We are seeking a metallurgist for the development of sintering and heat treatment processes for metals, alloys, and ceramics. In this R&D-focused; role, you will design furnace cycles, define temperature profiles and atmosphere conditions, and establish robust processing for recent and existing materials. You will validate process outcomes through material characterization, troubleshoot thermal processing defects, and work closely with materials, process, and product development teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize sintering cycles (debinding, ramp rates, hold temperatures, cooling profiles) for metallic and ceramic material systems.
• Design and execute heat treatment processes tailored to material and application requirements.
• Establish and maintain process parameters to achieve target density, microstructure, hardness, and dimensional stability.
• Specify furnace atmospheres (vacuum, inert, reducing, hydrogen/nitrogen/argon mixtures) and setpoints for each material system.




• Review furnace run data and logs to verify cycles were executed within specification
• Guide and train furnace operators/technicians on new cycles and critical process controls.
• Troubleshoot process deviations- oxidation, decarburisation, incomplete densification, warping, cracking and drive corrective actions.
• Advise on furnace capability, pyrometry, atmosphere systems, and future equipment selection.
• Monitor furnace: thermocouple calibration, temperature uniformity surveys, leak checks, and atmosphere integrity.
• Run design-of-experiments (DoE) trials to establish robust processing windows
• Perform or coordinate basic characterisation: density measurement, hardness testing, optical microscopy, sample preparation (mounting, grinding, polishing, etching).
• Interpret microstructures and correlate them with cycle parameters and material behaviour.
• Lead failure analysis and root-cause investigations on thermally processed parts.
• Prepare technical reports

📌 Materials and Thermal processing Engineer (Chennai)
🏢 ThinkMetal
📍 Chennai