Failure analysis

Content of the course

Students gain an insight into the many aspects of damage analysis. Despite constantly developing technologies, cases of damage continue to occur, sometimes with dramatic consequences caused by material, manufacturing and/or design-related causes. Damage analysis can be a very exciting and fulfilling subject for the investigators involved in determining the cause of the damage, but a systematic approach is one of the key prerequisites for a successful analysis. A carefully conducted damage analysis should aim to produce a rational and logically constructed scenario of the damage process, the possible causes and the future avoidance of comparable cases of damage. This requires the analyst to have a very broad understanding of the relationships between operational stresses (mechanical, thermal, corrosive, etc.) as well as the inherent material and production-related properties of a structure.

• Introduction and historical cases of damage
• Systematics of a damage analysis
• Macroscopic and microscopic fracture surface analysis
• Fatigue and evaluation of cracks
• Thermally induced damage
• Wear stress
• Hydrogen-induced damage
• Corrosion damage
• Structural health monitoring for damage prevention