Carl Soderhjelm
Biography
Carl Söderhjelm, Ph.D., is Assistant Researcher and Associate Director of the Advanced Casting Research Center at the University of California, Irvine. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where his dissertation focused on metallurgically bonding aluminum to ferrous inserts in multi-material metal casting. His research centers on metal casting processes and additive manufacturing, with particular emphasis on thermal management of permanent molds, high pressure die casting, and the development of aluminum alloys for automotive and industrial applications.
Söderhjelm has held research and academic appointments at both the University of California, Irvine and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he also served as an Assistant Research Professor and held the designation of Foundry Education Foundation Key Professor. He has directed industrial research collaborations with organizations including Tesla, GKN Sinter Metals, and Precision Kyowa, and currently serves as Director of the Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing program at UC Irvine. He is also an External Advisory Board Member for the Foundry Education Foundation at Michigan Technological University.
Söderhjelm is an active member of the American Foundry Society, where he has served on the Light Metal Division Committee and the Technical Council, and of the North American Die Casting Association, where he serves on both the Research and Development Committee and the Die Materials Committee. He has co-supervised nine graduate theses, including two doctoral dissertations, across both institutions and has presented his research at numerous national and international conferences.
Return to topEducation
- Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2017
- M.Sc. in Engineering Nanoscience, Specialization in Materials, Lund University, 2013
Distinctions
- Foundry Education Foundation Key Professor, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2018-2020
Areas of Expertise
- Metal Casting and Solidification Engineering
- Multi-Material Aluminum Bonding
- High Pressure Die Casting
- Additive Manufacturing of Metals
- Thermal Management of Permanent Molds
- Aluminum Scrap Upcycling Circularity
- AI-Assisted Casting Defect Detection
Recent Publications
- Ahn, C., Söderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “Use of phase change materials (PCM) for thermal management in permanent mold casting processes” (opens in new tab), Journal of Manufacturing Processes, vol. 171, pp. 193-202, 2026.
- Zang, A. Y., Breneman, R. C., Kaplan, M., Soderhjelm, C., Valdevit, L., Mumm, D. R., Apelian, D., “The effect of processing and metallurgical parameters on recrystallization in single crystal nickel-based superalloys–A review” (opens in new tab), Progress in Materials Science, vol. 161, pp. 101689, 2026.
- Lunn, K. F., Söderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., Rakhmonov, J., Wang, H., “Hierarchical microstructural parameters governing electrical and thermal conductivity in Al-based eutectic systems” (opens in new tab), Journal of Alloys and Compounds, vol. 1037, pp. 182055, 2025.
- Ahn, C., Söderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “Evaluation of Heating Technologies for Thermal Management of Permanent Molds” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Metalcasting, pp. 1-25, 2025.
- Ahn, C., Söderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “Enabling Technologies for Thermal Management During Permanent Mold Casting: A Critical Review” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Metalcasting, pp. 1-34, 2025.
- Shankar, S., Söderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “Classification of automotive aluminum scrap into cast and wrought alloys via particle size analysis” (opens in new tab), Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 472-484, 2025.
- Shankar, S., Gois, N., Molstad, E., Söderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “Upcycling of low quality aluminum automotive scrap: the DNA of twitch” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Metalcasting, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 2544-2555, 2025.
- Lunn, K., MacDonald, B., Webster, J., Cantaloube, Y., Söderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “Alternative Al-based Eutectic Systems for Improved Electrical Conductivity”, Transactions of the American Foundry Society, pp. 397-411, 2024. Presented at AFS.
- MacDonald, B., Wiesner, S., Holdsworth, R., Söderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “High pressure die casting of Al-Ce-La-Ni-Fe alloys” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Metalcasting, vol. 18, pp. 1-14, 2024.
- Jaime, R., Puga, H., Prokic, M., Söderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “Fundamentals of Ultrasonic Treatment of Aluminum Alloys” (opens in new tab), International Journal of Metalcasting, vol. 18, pp. 2783-2807, 2024.
- Soderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “Thermomechanical stress analysis of dunk test specimens: implications for materials selection for additively manufactured tooling”, 2023. Presented at NADCA Die Casting Congress 2023.
- Deng, S., Soderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., Bostanabad, R., “Reduced-Order Multiscale Modeling of Plastic Deformations in 3D Cast Metallic Alloys with Spatially Varying Microstructures” (opens in new tab), Computational Mechanics, vol. 70, no. 3, pp. 517-548, 2022.
- Deng, S., Soderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., Suresh, K., “Second-order defeaturing estimator of manufacturing-induced porosity on structural elasticity” (opens in new tab), International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, vol. 123, no. 19, pp. 4483-4517, 2022.
- Deng, S., Soderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., Suresh, K., “Estimation of elastic behaviors of metal components containing process induced porosity” (opens in new tab), Computers and Structures, vol. 254, pp. 106558, 2021.
- Soderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “Control of Thermomechanical Stresses via Conformal Cooling Line Design”, 2020. Presented at Die Casting Congress & Tabletop 2020.
- Soderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “Multimaterial Casting – Practical Foundry Guidelines”, 2018. Presented at AFS Metalcasting Congress 2018, Fort Worth, TX, USA.
- Farhadi F., Soderhjelm C., Sisson R.D., “Developing aluminized coatings on stainless steels by hot dipping” (opens in new tab), ASM International 29th Heat Treating Society Conference Heat Treat 2017, vol. 2017-October, pp. 27-32, 2017.
- Soderhjelm, C., Apelian, D., “Metallurgical bonding between cast-in ferrous inserts and aluminum”, La Metallurgia Italiana, vol. 6, pp. 93-100, 2016.
Contact Information
Email: carl.soderhjelm@uci.edu
Phone: (949) 824-2538
Address: 4th Fl Engineering Tower
Return to topThis profile was created with the help of AI.
Last updated on 9/9/2026.