Failure Analysis

What failure analysis answers

When a component fails, the essential question is why. Our failure analysis service investigates failures across metal alloys, polymers, and ceramics to establish whether the root cause lies in inappropriate material selection, design, fabrication, operating conditions, or some combination of these factors. The findings translate directly into corrective action: improved component performance, longer service life, and better overall quality and efficiency in your products and processes.

Equipment & methods

The heart of the investigation is a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with a silicon-drift-detector (SDD) energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), backed by advanced imaging software and controlled sample-preparation techniques. This combination lets us image fracture surfaces at high magnification and identify the elemental makeup of deposits, inclusions, and corrosion products that point to the failure mechanism.

Expertise behind the analysis

Investigations are led by PhD-level materials engineers and supported by a network of chemists, finite-element analysts, and mechanical-engineer consultants. We draw on decades of internal experience together with access to tens of thousands of research articles on failure analysis and prevention.

Components we analyze

Typical items brought to our lab include:

• Mechanical equipment and pumps
• Heat exchangers and boiler tubes
• Pipelines and pressure vessels
• Forgings and castings
• Welds and brazes
• Tools and dies

Materials experience

Beyond standard metals and alloys, we have analyzed an unusually broad range of materials: cast iron, Teflon gaskets, glass liners, nickel-based brazes, silicon-nitride thermowell sheaths, zirconia mud-pump liners, oxide-dispersion-strengthened high-temperature alloys, Babbitt bearings, and rare-earth-element-modified magnesium alloys.