2024 Steel Intern Scholarships
Eileen L. Hung
Interning at United States Steel Corporation has been the most rewarding summer of my college career. I got to utilize the skills I have learned throughout college as well as gain a variety of valuable experiences.
The community at the Research and Technology Center has been very welcoming. I bugged half the building with questions ranging from highly technical to asking for directions and all of them have been met with patience and friendliness. Whenever I had a question that they couldn’t answer, I would get pointed to resources that could. More than once, I stumped a person with a series of questions, only for them to come back a few hours later with a response and supporting references.
The resources at U. S. Steel are one of the things I value most. Everybody who works here has a vast amount of knowledge that they are happy to share, and additionally the building contains a library full of information dating back decades. There seems to be a book for every occasion, and I have a growing pile on my desk on subjects ranging from fracture mechanics to x-ray spectrometry.
This wide array of resources has proven to be necessary, as my projects have ranged from inside my domain knowledge to well outside of it. Though I came in with basic metallurgy knowledge from my courses and some technical skills, I had quite a bit to learn to keep up.
This summer was broadly focused on three separate projects with two different mentors. The work ranged from data analysis to lab work to technical report writing. My file directory and desk were cluttered with macro-enabled spreadsheets and fracture specimens in equal measure. Some days were spent entirely at my computer, while others were spent entirely in front of the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The variety of work struck a good balance between being interesting without being overwhelming.
The first project was developing a pipeline and tool to assist with inclusion analysis. It builds off the ASTM E45 field rating method and includes additional outputs such as size distributions, ternary diagrams, and greater specificity in composition sorting based on SEM-energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) results. This project has taught me many valuable technical skills in data analytics as well as programming in Excel and Visual Basic.
The second project was characterizing oxide buildup on stopper rods. This was a unique project because this buildup has not been studied in-depth before. I have gotten better not just at using the SEM but also repairing it.
The final project was a failure analysis on a set of cylinder cap screws. This was a great opportunity to learn more about the field of fracture mechanics which I was not familiar with prior. It took me out of my comfort zone, but it was fascinating to learn the meaning behind various fracture features to determine the failure mode and future mitigation strategies.
All in all, I am very grateful I had the opportunity to work with U. S. Steel this past summer, and I am grateful that the AIST Steel Intern Scholarship gave me the means to do so. I intend to continue my internship into the fall semester so I hope to continue learning as much as I can.