Failure analysis

Course contents

Students will gain an insight into the multifaceted aspects of failure analysis. Notwithstanding the ongoing refinement of our technologies, material, production process and/or design-related issues continue to cause failures which often have drastic consequences. Failure analysis can be a very exciting and fascinating subject for those involved in analysing failure causes, while at the same time demanding a highly systematic approach as one of the key requirements for the success of such an analysis. A careful damage analysis should aim to develop a rational and logical understanding of the sequence of events and factors involved in the failure, the potential causes and future prevention of similar damage events. In order to do so, investigators are required to develop a very broad understanding of the relationships between operational stresses (mechanical, thermal, corrosive, etc.) as well as the structural characteristics intrinsic to a material and those created by associated production processes.

• Introduction and historical damage events
• Systematics of damage analysis
• Macro- and microscopic fracture surface analysis
• Fatigue and fracture assessment
• Thermally induced damage
• Wear stress
• Hydrogen induced damage
• Corrosion damage
• Structural Health Monitoring for damage prevention