Failure Analysis Methods What, Why and How ?

what?
•Every product or process has modes of failure.
•An analysis of potential failures helps designers focus on and
understand the impact of potential process or product risks
and failures.
•Several systematic methodologies have been develop to
quantify the effects and impacts of failures.
why?
• Product Development:
- Prevent product malfunctions.
- Insure product life.
- Prevent safety hazards while using the product.
• Process Development:
–Insure product quality
–Achieve process reliability
–Prevent customer dissatisfaction
–Prevent safety or environmental hazards
How?
• Cause-Consequence Analysis.
• Event Tree Analysis.
• Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA).
• Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA).
• Fault Tree Analysis (FTA).
• Hazard & Operability Analysis (HAZOP).
• Human Reliability. • Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA)
• Safety Review . • What-If / Checklist Analysis.
• What-If Analysis. • Relative Ranking.
• Checklist.
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 Main objectives of failure analysis

The objective or purpose of a failure analysis project has

frequently been defined as the prevention of the
recurrences of similar failures. Sometimes, though, this
goal is simply not attainable. For example, if an injury
lawsuit is involved, the purpose of the lawsuit and the
associated legal procedures is usually to assign responsibility
for an undesired event (the failure) and the
technical findings resulting from the failure analysis
become the property of the litigation process. Therefore,
unless legally binding codes or laws were broken, there
may be no process available to transform the technical
findings into a form that could be directly used to prevent
repeat failures.

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 Theory of failure analysis(Root cause failure analysis)
At times,metal products fail to perform as expected or
deteriorate to a point where they are no longer safe to use.
The materials engineers at Laboratory Testing Inc.
complete root cause failure analysis investigations to help you
understand the reason for a failure and to provide insight into
preventing similar failures in the future.The engineers in the
metallurgical failure analysis lab are also available when an
expert witness is needed.
LTI's failure analysis lab begins each investigation with a
background review of the material or parts that failed.
Whenever possible,customers provide us with information
about the composition and fabrication of the failed item,
circumstances leading to the failure and details of the failure
event by completing our Failure Analysis Questionnaire.
Based on the type of product and its history,LTI will perform
a full metallurgical failure analysis with the necessary testing
and inspections to identify the cause of failures
Root cause failure analysis may include any of the wide-range
of mechanical testing,metallurgical evaluation,chemical analysis
,nondestructive testing or dimensional inspection services
performed at our "one-slop"laboratory.
Testing and inspection can determine the chemistry,mechanical
properties or the existence of any flaws or inconsistencies to
get the structural and behavioral results necessary for a
thorough investigation and to uncover the probable root cause
of the failure.
Top-of-the-line equipment is used throughout the Lab,including
our Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive X-
ray Spectrometry(SEM/EDS)system for detailed analysis.
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When the failure analysis is completed,customers receive a
comprehensive Failure Analysis Report with all findings from
the investigation.This Report may include recommended
actions to be taken with similar parts or materials to prevent a
reoccurrence in the future.
failure analysis process
The principal task of a failure analyst during a physical-cause
investigation is to identify the sequence of events involved in
the failure. Like the basic process of the scientific method,
failure analysis is an iterative process of narrowing down the
possible explanations for failure by eliminating those
explanations that do not fit the observations.
The basic steps are:
1. Collect data
2. Identify damage modes present
3. Identify possible damage mechanisms
4. Test to identify actual mechanisms that occurred
5. Identify which mechanism is primary and which is secondary
6. Identify possible root causes
7. Test to determine actual root cause
8. Evaluate and implement corrective actions
Failure Investigation benefits
the purpose of a failure investigation is to determine the root
cause. Determination of root cause is good engineering
practice that crosses functional boundaries within a company
and is an integral part of the quality-assurance and continuous-
improvement programs. In addition, the most public reason to
discover the root cause of a failure is to determine the fault
or innocence of a company or person during litigation.

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For industrial purposes, however, it is more common that once
the root cause is discovered, the corrective action to prevent
future occurrences is implemented, thus saving the company
time and money.
Macrostructural and Microstructural evaluation methods
Root cause failure analysis makes use of macrostructural and
microstructural evaluation methods,as well as other
investigative tools such as nondestructive testing,mechanical
property measurements,and chemical analysis. The failure
investigations performed at LTI are limited to metal
components and concentrate on the metallurgical aspects of
the failure.The metallurgical failure analysis generally does not
emphasize factors such as stress or load distributions.The
steps followed and the order of the steps performed in a
failure investigation may vary depending on the type of failure
being investigated.
collecting and assembling background information
The metallurgical failure analysis should begin by obtaining
background information on the failure.This includes collecting
available information about the manufacturing,processing,
fabricating method,and service history of the failed
component.Processing and service records,pertinent codes,
specifications and related standards,as well as specifications,
drawings,and design criteria should be included.Data should be
provided about the material used. mechanical properties,heat
treatment,and any surface preparation such as cleaning,
grinding,plating or painting.The service history should include
the date,time,temperature,and environmental conditions of the
component.In addition to collecting the background
information,photographs of the failed component and the
failure site should be taken. 6