Larissa Vielela Costa, a dedicated metallurgist with a PhD, has been instrumental in shaping advancements at Nucor's new greenfield startup venture in Brandenburg, KY. She began her career in heat treat by pursuing a bachelor's degree and a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pontifícia Universidade Católica (PUC) de Minas Gerais Minas (Brazil). Although she has a strong background in mechanical engineering, Larissa has always had a great passion for metallurgy. The first two relevant projects related to heat treatment of steels were her bachelor’s degree project developed in 2011, published at the Journal Advanced Materials Research in August 2014 as “Residual Stress Gradients in AISI 9254 Steel Springs Submitted to Shot Peening and Heat Treatment for Increased Fatigue Resistance,” and her master’s degree thesis, “Influence of Temperature in the Microstructure of Carbonitrided, Quenched and Tempered DIN 19MnCr5 Steel Alloy with and without Shot Peening,” (March 2013-February 2015).

Following this initial education, Larissa received a doctorate degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from Colorado School of Mines, as part of the Advanced Steel Product Processing Research Center (ASPPRC), dedicating five and a half years of study and research and contributing to the heat treatment community on the topics of fatigue in low pressure carbonitrided steels. In her PhD thesis, “Fatigue in Low Pressure Carbonitrided Steels,” Larissa analyzed the fatigue response of four different steel alloys commonly used in the production of gears in the automotive industry (SAE 8620, SAE 8620+Nb, 20MnCr5, 20MnCr5+B); specifically, she looked at low pressure carbonitriding and quenching by pressurized nitrogen. Her industrial mentors were Gerdau, Stellantis, ECM-USA, and CBMM. Four papers were published from this thesis, two with the Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance (2020 and 2023) and two with ASM Heat Treating Society Heat Treat Conference & Exposition (2019 and 2021). The low pressure carbonitriding and the pressurized nitrogen quenching research was presented at the Synergy Center at ECM-USA.

Following her graduation in March 2021, Larissa joined the Synergy Center at ECM-USA where she had the opportunity of exploring different types of low-pressure heat treatment in steels, such as carburizing, carbonitriding, austenitizing and pressurized nitrogen quenching/oil quenching, and tempering. During her time, she developed different recipes and strategies for these heat treatments.

Other publications by Larissa:

• Vilela Costa, D. C. Oliveira, D. Wallace, V. Lelong, K. O. Findley, “Bending Fatigue in Low Pressure Carbonitriding of Steel Alloys with Boron and Niobium Additions,” Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance, v. 29, pp. 3593-3602, April 2020.
• Larissa Vilela Costa, Vincent Lelong, Dennis Beauchesne, Robert L. Cryderman, Kip O. Findley, “Fatigue Performance of Low Pressure Carbonitrided 20MnCr5 and SAE 8620 Steel Alloys,” in: 31st Heat Treating Society Conference and Exposition, ASM International, St. Louis, Missouri, 2021.
• Larissa Vilela Costa, Vincent Lelong, Kip O. Findley, “Low Pressure Carbonitriding of Steel Alloys with Boron and Niobium Additions” in: 30th Heat Treating Society Conference and Exposition, ASM International, Detroit, Michigan, 2019.
• Larissa Vilela Costa, Kip O. Findley, Robert Cryderman. “Fatigue Performance of Low Pressure Carbonitrided 20MnCr5 and SAE 8620 Steel Alloys” Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance, 2023.

Larissa is currently the metallurgist responsible for the continuous heat treatment line (CHTL) — a quench and temper line — at the state-of-the-art plate mill Nucor Steel Brandenburg (NSBB) located in Brandenburg, Kentucky. NSBB is a green field plate mill, and Larissa was involved in all stages of the CHTL development, starting from the construction, equipment erection, and installation to finally the commissioning and production. For the commissioning and initial production stages, she is responsible for defining and coordinating the heat treatment tests and trials in Nucor’s different steel grades in development, defining the heat treatment parameters, evaluating the mechanical and metallurgical properties obtained, making adjustments and modifications in the heat treatment parameters, and finally, training and giving support to the collaborating team of operators and technicians, who run the CHTL day and night. Additionally, she is part of the product and development team for the plate group, developing new products and obtaining the most adequate heat treatment for these materials.

Her leadership and unique abilities to connect to her audience and collaborate effectively have helped Nucor’s team by bringing together OEM support with their rapidly developing team. Ultimately, she has established reliable operational practices, automation protocols, and quality control based on a highly technical foundation. This display of Larissa’s expertise, relationship-building, team support, and commitment to continual improvement are all critical components contributing to the company’s success and will help us serve their clients and industry by providing abrasion resistant, structural, and pressure vessel quality steel plates at sizes with previously limited commercial availability.

When it comes to technical expertise, Larissa excels, bringing a commitment to continuous improvement that has been fundamental to the team's achievements. Her efforts are crucial to advance Nucor's endeavor of enhancing product offerings, particularly in delivering abrasion-resistant, structural, and pressure vessel quality steel plates, sizes of which were previously less commercially available.

With her years of research and expertise, Larissa mentors and leads co-ops at Nucor Brandenburg, not only with the objective of having good metallurgists for the future market, but also with a passion for heat treatment, as these professionals are so hard to find. Outside of the company, Larissa currently is part of the ASM Heat Treating Society Technology & Programming Committee, serves as an industrial mentor for graduate students at the ASPPRC, and is vice-chair of the 32nd Heat Treating Society Conference & Exposition 2025 in Detroit, MI.