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Failure Investigations
Failure Investigations & Analysis
Engineering components inevitably fail and the impact might be insignificant or it might be highly important and might even involve legal actions and court activity.
A failure investigation is often mandatory to help assess the root cause of the failure, prevent similar incidents of recurring and define responsibilities.
So what does a failure investigation involve?
- Initial in-depth discussion with the customer to obtain critical background technical information such as service history of the part, service environment and conditions, material type, event that led to failure and anything that will be considered relevant to build the case.
- Preliminary visual examination by means of a digital camera or a stereo microscope
- Chemical analysis of the material to confirm conformity to compositional requirements
- Fractographic examination by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to determine the mode of failure and Energy
- Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS / EDX) to identify the elemental composition of any corrosion products or other features that might be of interest
- Metallographic examination and assessment to determine any microstructural features that might have led to the failure or anything relevant to the investigation
- Hardness and tensile testing as deemed appropriate
- Results collation and interpretation
- Formal technical reporting
AMS’s highly experienced and qualified staff can help you:
- Perform root cause analysis to determine responsibilities among parties involved.
- Minimize costs by preventing similar failures to occur and optimizing design.
- With insurance claims by providing third-party expert witness services.
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Litigations and legal cases
*Failure investigations are non-UKAS.
