Master Thesis Work - How to improve the sustainability of automotive glass?

About this opportunity - Background

At Vehicle Engineering, our responsibility spans the entire chassis, interior, climate, body & exterior functions, mechanical Integration, and a range of vehicle attributes with impact on design and customer experience of our complete product. Across these domains and all development cycles, we will lead an effective delivery operation on a complete level in close sync with other Engineering units, functions, and stakeholders across the company.

This thesis work is within the area of Concept & Program at the Material Engineering Centre.

Volvo Cars aims to have 35% recycled or biobased materials in new vehicles from 2030 and reach net zero as a company by 2040. There are typically more than 70kg of flat glass in our vehicles.  There are significant ESG risks associated with the raw materials in the glass manufacturing supply chain, especially connected to soda ash and silica. Despite the ESG challenges associated with primary flat glass, typically less than 1% is currently recycled.

Objective:

Including, but not limited to:
•    Environmental Sustainability assessment of automotive glass
•    Value chain mapping of environmental impact and identification of key business risks (resilience)
•    Identification and assessment of potential 3rd party Certification schemes
•    Benchmark of new technologies / alternative materials and potential future suppliers
•    Proposed future direction for automotive glass applications

Scope of the thesis work

To understand the sustainability-related impacts of the glass in our vehicles, including windshields, side and rear windows, and panorama roof, and to identify the opportunities and priorities to reduce its impact. This could be connected to the raw material and/or any step in the value chain. Another aspect may be to investigate the potential to add recycled material, and the effect that would have on the resulting material properties. Preferably, it should also include an external outlook mapping ongoing research and potential within our current and potential future supply chain, alternative materials, etc.

What you'll bring

Preferably two students working as a team.

Mechanical engineering, Materials Engineering, or similar, with an interest and focus on sustainability assessment and/or industrial ecology.

Duration

•    Tentative proposed thesis work period: 19th January 2026 to 26th of June 2026 (dates can be flexible with +/- 7 days)
•    Academic credits: equivalent to 30 ECTS 
•    Number of students: 2 (working in a pair)