UTC failure analysis experts recently published technical papers related to industrial failure analysis in international journals:

"Forensic investigation on crane accidents", published in International Journal on Forensic Engineering in 2017.

"Letter to the Editor: A case study on engineering failure analysis of link chain" fractured in crane lifting operation, published in Journal of Safety and Health at Work, 2021

UTC's failure analysis services

UTC failure analysis experts with extensive relevant experience were engaged by government agencies (MOM, SCDF, ESG, PUB), MNCs and insurance companies for conducting a number of high profile failure analysis, accident and fire investigation cases, lecturing "Failure Investigation Analysis" course for RSAF & "Vehicle Fire Investigation" for LTA, and testifying in different Courts as failure analysis expert witness and accident expert witness. UTC expert had been featured in Straits Times and MediaCorp TV programs for failure analysis and accident investigation.

To contact UTC failure analysis and accident investigation experts, please click EMAIL: enquiry@ut.sg or Call (+65)81380509.

UTC is one of leading independent third party failure analysis service provider. UTC's failure analysis services are high quality, fast and cost-effective, validated by a number of project awards from goverment tenders in GeBIZ.

UTC's failure analysis and accident investigation report as well as expert witness opinions are well accepted by High Court, State Court, Criminal Court and Arbitration Court.

UTC's experts are often engaged by government agencies and companies for failure analysis and accident investigation. Typical examples including:

Failure analysis investigation on Taxi fire and explosion near Buona Vista MRT, awarded by Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF)

Investigating fatal gate toppling at construction site and as expert witness testifying in Criminal Court, awarded by MOM.

Failure analysis and accident investigation on explosion of electric storage water heater, awarded by SPRING Singapore / Enterprise Singapore

Investigation and failure analysis on damage items at and/or recovered from incident sites (two year contract + one year option), awarded by SCDF.

Failure analysis and accident investigation on refrigerator fires @ condominium, awarded by Enterprise Singapore

Failure analysis on fractured manhole framesets, awarded by Public Utilities Board (PUB)

Failure analysis and accident investigation on liquid dispenser failure and fire, awarded by SPRING /Enterprise Singapore

Conducting "Vehicle Fire Investigation" course, awarded by Land Transport Authority (LTA).

Failure investigation analysis on landing gear system failure of UAV, awarded by MINDEF/DSTA/RSAF.

Failure analysis on gantry crane cracking@MRT site - China Rail Tunnel Group

Failure analysis on cast iron sanitry pipeline cracking - NTUC Health

Investigating building cladding (aluminium composite panel - ACP) fire at Toh Guan Road and as fire expert witness in High Court- Netto & Magin

Investigation on various vehicle fires for MSIG Insurance

Forensic investigation on crane collapse accident at National Art Gallery, engaged by Takenaka (Japan)

Failure investigation analysis on 29" oil pipeline leakage, engaged by Universal Terminal

Forensic investigation on crane boom fracture and collapse accident, engaged by Hyundai

Failure analysis services (or failure investigation services) are consultation services which adopt systematic analysis approach to determine root cause(s) and mechansim(s) of failure and provide counter measures to prevent similar failure or accident recurrence. Failure analysis services are demanded by companies and governments from not only Singapore but also other countries.

Failure analysis is often named as engineering failure analysis, including mechanical failure analysis or stress failure analysis, component failure analysis, electrical failure analysis and material failure analysis. In case of damages involved in equipments or facilities, failure analysis can be called damage analysis (or damage investigation). Inspection is often involved in failure analysis or related investigation.

Failure analysis experts are sometimes summoned to the Court and act as failure analysis expert witness testifying in the Court to present expert opinions and evidences. For more details of expert witness, please refer to EXPERT WITNESS SERVICES.

Effective failure analysis services can not only enhance reliability and safety, but also improve product quality and reduce operational cost & down time of facilities. UTC's scientific and engineering experts in Singapore provide effective, relaible, fast and cost-saving failure analysis services beyong Singapore, draw reliable conclusions and recommend effective measures, based on solid evidences, sound scientific & engineering principles, and logical inference.

Forensic investigation and analysis is to apply scientific knowledge and methodology to legal issues and / or criminal investigations of the subject cases, thus it can assist the court or litigation for justifications. Therefore, forensic investigation and analysis sometimes are actually extension of failure analysis. The focus of failure analysis is on determining failure cause(s) & failure mechanism(s) while the focus of forensic investigation and analysis is on providing traceable evidences for clarifying resposibility and liability of the failures and accidents.

UTC is one of leading independent investigation company in Singapore, consists of failure analysis experts and accident investigation experts with more than 35 years of experience and relevant qualifications.

UTC failure analysis experts have successfully led and completed thousands of consultation projects in forensic accident investigation and failure analysis served for aerospace, marine, petrochemical, electronic and microelectronic, construction, amusement, oil & gas, transportation industries and governmental agencies

UTC's failure analysis and accident investigation services had been well recognized by industries and Singapore government agencies including Republic of Singapore Air Force, DSTA, Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Hyundai (Korea), PUB, SBS Transit, China Taiping Insurance, Rajah & Tann, WongPartnership, Universal Terminal,Takenaka (Japan) and MSIG Insurance, etc.

UTC's failure analysis services and accident investigation services are cost-effective, validated by a number of awards on relevant projects from government tenders in GeBIZ.

UTC's expert witness services and reports on failure analysis and accident investigation were well proven and accepted by High Court, State Court, Criminal Court and Arbitration Court.

UTC's accident reconstruction and investigation services had been well recognized by Singapore government agencies (e.g. SCDF, MOM, PUB, RSAF, ESG (ex-SPRING), LTA) and many MNCs (e.g. Hyundai Korea, Takenaka Japan, China Raiway Tunnel Group, MSIG Insurance, Rajah & Tann (Lawyer Firm, WongPartnership (Lawyer Firm), NTUC Health Group, Universal Terminal (Oil and Gas), SEMCO Marine).

Failure analysis or sometimes called root cause analysis may use following techniques:

• Fishbone diagram, i.e. Causes and effects diagram


• Five why questioning, i.e. Asking why, why, why qestions until fundamental causes are identified


• Fault tree analysis (FTA) is a top-down, deductive failure analysis


• Failure modes and effects/criticality analysis (FMEA or FMECA), list possible failure modes are defined; the effects and probabilities of those failures

In general, a proper failure analysis procedure shall be adopted during failure analysis process, so that failure analysis and investigation can be proceeded step by step.
1. Collecting relevant background information on the failure.
2. General survey on the failure site and selecting specimens or samples for further examination and investigation.
3. Visual and macroscopic examination on selected samples or specimens relevant to failure.
4. Analysis and inspection on samples or specimens with non-destructive techniques.
5. Examination and analysis on samples or specimens with destructive techniques.
6. Simulation analysis or simulation experiment.
7. Data analysis on the analysis & investigation findings and logical inference.
8. Report preparation to inculde failure analysis findings and conclusions.

UTC provides professional services in following areas:


• Mechanical failure analysis on failed machinery parts and components
• Electrical failure analysis - forensic investigation on electrical related failures
• Failure analysis on affected items related to fire incidents
• Fatigue and damages analysis and investigation
• Corrosion failure analysis and investigation
• Failure analysis and invesigation on chemical related failures
• Marine failure analysis on shipyard lifting system cracking, ship propeller corrosion, hovercraft gearbox fractures and ship engine failures
• Forensic investigation and Failure analysis on materials related failures
• Forensic analysis on product quality issues
• Evaluation and analysis on failed weld joints
• Stress simulation using Finite element analysis (FEM)
• Various kinds of damage investigation
• Failure analysis on product discoloration
• Forensic failure analysis on electrical and electronic products and devices
• Fault diagnosis and trouble shooting

Other expert areas, please refer to
• Forensic accident investigation and analysis
• Crane accident investigation and failure analysis
• Corrosion engineering
• Fire investigation
• Expert witness in litigation and insurance claims.
• Condition assessment
• Design and structural analysis
• Industrial technical training courses:
1. Industrial Failure Analysis - Investigation, causes, mechanisms and prevention
2. Applied Metallurgy - Compositions, microstructure, process and properties of metals and alloys
3. Corrosion - mechanisms, investigation and prevention
4. Fire Investigation
5. Structual analysis in design and failure investigation
6. Human factors in design and accident investigation
Our key experts had provided failure analyis, accident investigation, fire investigation and expert witness services to regional countries and beyond, including Singapore, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Japan, Korean, The Netherland, Italy, etc.

Effective failure analysis (FA) will:


• Determine root cause(s) of failures.
• Find out mechanism(s) of failures.
• Recommend counter measures and solutions to prevent recurrence of failures.
• Support litigation/court hearing on litigation/liabilities related to failures.


Click here to understand more about what is effective failure analysis.

According to the project requirements, following techniques are available for our failure analysis projects:


• Infrared Thermography
• Visual examination
• Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)
• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy-dispersive_X-ray_spectroscopy">Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX)
• Florescence X-ray spectrometry (XRF)
• Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR)
• Tensile / Compressive test
• Charpy impact test
• X-ray diffraction (XRD)
• X-ray photonelectron spectrometry (XPS)
• Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
• Thermaogravimetry analysis (TGA)
• Ultrasonic Testing (UT)
• Radiographic Testing (RT)
• Liquid/dye Penetration Test (LT)

When fractures of equipments or infracstructure facilities are involved in accident(s), fracture analysis or fracture investigation should be conducted. Fractography on the fracture surfaces shall be conducted.

Our failure analysis team had dealed and experienced with following materials:

Metals
• carbon steels
• alloy steels
• cast irons
• stainless steel
• copper alloys
• titanium alloys
• nickel alloys
• super alloys
• magnesium alloys
etc.

Polymers
• PVC
• Polyethylene (PE)
• Polycarbonate (PC)
• Styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN)
• Polyester
• Epoxy
• Alkyd
etc.


• composites
• glass
• semiconductors
• ceramics
• cements
• gypsum
• thin films
• coatings/paints
etc.

UTC's failure analysis or accident investigation projects were related to following failure mechanisms:

fatigue

stress corrosion cracking

overstress rupture

ductile fracture

brittle fracture

general corrosion

localised corrosion

hydrogen embrittlement

creep

wear

cavitation erosion

liquid metal embrittlement

buckling

galvanic corrosion

pitting

crevice corrosion

intergranular corrosion

contact fatigue

corrosion fatigue

leaching

under-deposit corrosion

electrical overstress

electrical migration

electrical arcing

electrostatic discharge (ESD)

hot cracking

lack of fusion/penetration

contamination

P-N junction breakdown

etc.

The failed products/devices/facilities in our failure analysis projects were made by:

welding

milling

turning

drilling

brazing

grinding

hot and cold forming

forging

casting

bonding

CVD deposition

PVD deposition

etching

plating

coating

bolt joining

cleaning

chemical treatment

heat treatment

assembly

moulding

cutting

etc.

What is effective failure analysis

After conducting failure analysis or accident investigation, the conclusion could be wrong, inconclusive or inrelevant, lack of logical or evidence, such kind of conclusion would be misleading, not only the analysis and investigation money as well as precise time are wasted, but also the failures or accidents could not be solved and prevented, it would further damage reputation and even litigation loss.

The effective failure analysis must be comprehensive, logical, adapt scientificaly proven methods, and get right conclusions with solid evidences.

How to validate effective failure analysis

Effectiveness of failure analysis and accident investigation can be evaluated from following aspects:

Explain all observed phenomena and findings or data.

Feedback from the clients.

Peer review.

The effect after investigation and implementation.

Court acceptance

Only the evaluations from all the above aspects are positive, such failure analysis or accident investigation would be effective.

Key elements for effective failure analysis

Qualified investigator(s)

Good track records

Proven analysis or investigation procedure and approach

Multi-discipline and cooperative team

Adequate analysis and investigation tools – instruments

Impartial and objective mind

CORE of effective failure analysis – Selecting analyst or investigator.

To ensure the failure analysis be effective, it is crucial to select right failure analyst or investigator.

Requirements of good analyst or investigator
They shall be able to take a comprehensive approach, covering a large spectrum of disciplines, to derive the correct cause(s) of failures or accidents.

Comprehensive knowledge of related fields;

Abundant relevant experience not only on failure analysis but also on materials, manufacturing, operations and facilities etc.;

Hands-on skills and familiar to instruments/analytical techniques;

knack for gathering information;

Ability to filter artificial/distorted information;

Logical thinking;

Absolute honesty and integrity;

Open minded;

Team work;

Professional sense.

Cost of effective failure analysis

First of all, the analysis or investigation must be effective - quality report with right conclusion supported by solid evidence and scientific theory.

Secondly, the price shall be competitive.

They must be open market proven, demonstrated in GeBiz government tenders

Traceable track records

- Qualifications and accreditation

PhD in relevant disciplines/areas

Fellow of Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES)

Chartered Engineer in relevant areas (UK)

Member, National Association of Fire Investigators (USA)

Certified Pressure vessel inspector API 510 (American Petroleum Institute)

Expert/Technical Assessor of Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC)

Executive committee member of The Institute of Materials (East Asia)

Accomplished thousands of relevant projects, please refer to "Typical UTC failure analysis and accident projects" Section of this web page.

- Outstanding performance

A number of technical articles published in international journals and conferences, e.g. Forensic investigation on crane accidents, published in International Journal on Forensic Engineering, Vol.3 No 4, 2017

Expert witness reports and conclusions accepted by Court(s), e.g The judge’s statement: “The analysis report was not challenged. It was clearly at the odds ...”, Extracted from High Court Judgement in “Singapore Law watch” (2011) and Singaporelaw.sg (MovingU Pte Ltd vs. Trans-cab Service Pte Ltd) (Clause 27).

Recognition by governments, e.g. Dr Yu's contributions in investigating major MRT disruptions, and as expert witness testifying during Committee Of Inquiry (COI), as shown in COI Report – Ministry of Transportation 2012, Page 134

Dr Yu correctly determined the root cause of massive MRT breakdowns on July 7, 2015, featured in Top views of The Straits Times, Top of News, 30 July 2015.

Recognition feedback from clients, e.g. DSTA procurement manager' email:“SAF has cooperated with UTC several times previously and UTC has proven to be capable of fulfilling our requirements. We are very satisfied with UTC's performance.”

- Proven cost effective failure analysis and accident investigation

UTC's analyses and investigations are competitive, which are demonestrated in markets, e.g. in Gebiz tenders, UTC was awarded many projects such as:

MOM, Investigation on fatal gate toppling at construction site.

SCDF, Period contract of accident investigation (2015-2018).

SCDF, Period contract of accident investigation (2019-2020)

LTA, Conduct training course “Vehicle Fire Investigation” (3 runs)

SPRING, Investigation on explosion of storage water heater

Enterprise SG, Investigation on liquid dispenser fire

RSAF, Investigation on unmanned aerial vehicle structure fracture

RSAF, Aircraft brake bolt failure analysis

SCDF, Investigation on taxi fire and explosion near Buona Vista MRT

SCDF, Forensic investigation on taxi fire @ Maymount Road

PUB – 1 year contract for failure analysis and damage investigation of facilities

Our experts had successfully accomplished thousands of failure analysis and accident investigation projects, some typical cases are listed as follows:


• Mechanical failure analysis on damages of amusement rides (track, roller coaster vehicle)
• Forensic investigation on mass rapid transport system (MRT) / subway accident (trains, power supply, track)
• Forensic investigation on taxi/car/vehicle fire and explosion
• Forensic investigation on accidents of cranes (wire rope breakage, boom frame fracture, brake system failure, bearing damage, crane topple)
• Forensic investigation on building cladding (aluminium composite panel -ACP) fire and expert witness in high court
• Aircraft engine turbine blade failure analysis
• Bolt failure analysis in aircraft braking system
• Forensic investigation on paint and coating failures
• Gear failure analysis in ship
• Forensic investigation on automotive steering system
• Shaft failure analysis in transportation (automobile)
• Lift wire rope failure analysis for fracture/breakage/snapped in building
• Forensic investigation and failure analysis on aerospace landing gear system failure
• Mechnical failure analysis and corrosion investigation on hovercraft accidents (gearbox, propeller) in shipyard
• Mechanical failure analysis on damages in gas and steam turbines
• Failure investigation on notebook computer burning
• Failure analysis on gearbox explosion
• Forensic investigation on failures in jack-up rigs (pipe corrosion, glass cracking)
• Wire rope failure analysis in multi-wenches lifting system
• Failure investigation on extra-hydrogen release in huge battery of Submarine
• Investigation on failures of PCB, PCBA, LCD, passive components and IC
• Forensic investigation on heat exchanger burst
• Submarine power cable failure analysis
• Failure investigation on winch wire rope snapping in construction site
• Forensic investigation on transformer fire in plant
• Failure analysis on engine components (piston, crankshaft, camshaft, bearings, connecting rod, bolts, engine block, etc.)
• Corrosion failure analysis on pipe leakages
• Forensic investigation on explosion of power distribution system in plant
• Welding failure investigation on large ship-lifting system in shipyard (marine)
• Forensic investigation on incidents in Singapore Flyer
• Failure analysis of pipeline and piping system according to FITNET FFS
• Investigation on failures in building & structures etc.

Failures and accidents may relate to damage, fault or fire caused by mechanical, chemical, material, electrical issues or human factors.

Commercial /industrial failure analysis services
• Companies encounter failures and/or accidents, they may carry out their own failure analysis or accident investigation for most of simple cases. They may outsource third party investigator for complex or challenging or litigation related cases.
• Thirty party investigators - they carry out independent failure analysis and accident investigation upon outsourcing or request from government agencies, companies or individuals.
• Third party testing companies - their main business are product and/or material testing, they may give some interpretations based on their testing results.
• Insurance companies, they may conduct investigation on accidents and failures for settling claims or engage third party investigators for accident investigation or failure analysis.
• Loss adjusters, they mainly assess the damages and loss of accidents or failures.
• Surveyors - they mainly survey the accident sites and write survey report.

Recently, UTC had published articles on failure analysis and accident investigation:


• "Forensic investigation on crane accidents" was published in International Journal on Forensic Engineering, Vol.3 No 4, 2017.


• "Letter to the Editor: A case study on engineering failure analysis of link chain" in Journal of Safety and Health at Work, 2021


• "Improving quality and reliabity through effective failure analysis" was presented in Symposium on Materials Processing, Inspection and Testing held on August 24, 2017, Malaysia.


Most popular journals on failure analysis and relevant topics:
1. Engineering Failure Analysis
2. Journal of Failure Analysis and Preventions
3. CORROSION, the Journal of Science and Engineering
4. Corrosion Science - The Journal on Environmental Degradation of Materials and its Control
5. Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures
6. International Journal of Fatigue
7. International Journal of Fracture


Some relevant technical papers on failure analysis:


• Fatigue failure analysis of gearbox shaft
• Aircraft failure analysis on exhaust flange
• Failure analysis composite rotor helicopter
• Corrosion failure analysis on superheater-boiler
• Failure analysis on deformaion by finite element simulation
• Assessing hydraulic cylinder failure
• Petrochemical plant gear failure analysis
• Pressure vessel bolt failire analysis on fracture
• Reactor heater tube damage failure analysis
• Pipeline failure analysis
• Turbine blade failure analysis (creep damages)
• Pump turbine failure investigation
• Boiler failure analysis boiler
• Forensic investigation on diesel geneerator damages
• Failure analysis on discoloration
• Failure investigation on gas turbine blade damages
• Crankshaft failure analysis
• Spring failure analysis
• Investigation on collapse accident of prestressed reinforced concetre
• Assess stress-corrosion-cracking of stainless steel 316
• Automotive bushing failure investigation
• Failure analysis on Beoing fuel tank damages
• Automotive spring failure analysis (fracture)
• Aero engine bearing failure analysis
• Brazed joint failure analysis
• Cylinder rod failure investigation ( buckling)
• Naval battery failure analysis
• Ball bearing failure analysis ( vibration )
• Investigation on cable bridge collapse accident
• Accident investigation on cyclist motor vehicle collision
• Hydaulic system wind turbine failure analysis
• Stainless steel pipeline failure analysis
• 3D print steel gear failure analysis
• Failure analysis of bridge crane wheel rail wear
• Forensic analysis of oil refinery boiler tube damages
• Bearing pulley failure analysis
• Power plant fan failure analysis
• Corrosion failure analysis of Ni-P film of aircraft fire detector
• Fracture failure analysis KL crankshaft
• Rail fastening anchor bolt failure analysis
• Pump shaft torsion fatigue failure analysis
• High performance race engine failure analysis ( fatigue )
• Gate valve failure analysis ( bonnet)
• Failure analysis of furnace head assembly
• Bearing failure analysis in a Turbo Shaft Engine
• Aero Engine Bearing Failure Analysis
• Failure Investigation of Evacuated Tube Solar Collector of Water Heater
• Weldment Failure Analysis in Body Structure of a Helicopter
• Quantitative Detection of Remanence in Broken Wire Rope
• Failure Analysis of Battery Metallic Components in Naval System
• MW-Class Wind Turbine Blade Root Bolt Failure Analysis
• Hydrogen Embrittlement of Low Alloy Steels Under Cathodic Polarization
• Stress Corrosion Cracking of the Fusion Boundary for 304L/82 Dissimilar Metal Weld Joint
• Pitting Corrosion in Phosphor Bronze Tape Used in Underground Power Transmission Cables
• Failure Projection of Corroding Bridge Post-Tensioning Tendons
• Corrosion failure analysis of Materials after Advanced Surface Processing and Welding
• Review on corrosion inhibitors for steels in acidic media for the oil and gas industry
• Annalysis on oxidation and hot corrosion behavior of NiCrAlYSi+NiAl/cBN abrasive coating
• Temperature and applied strain on corrosion of X80 pipeline steel in chloride
• Investigation on atmospheric Corrosion of Carbon Steel, Aluminum, Copper and Zinc in Airport
• Investigation on durability of galvanised fasteners in timber construction
• Analysis on sealing failure and fretting fatigue behavior of fittings induced by pipeline vibration
• Fatigue strength modelling of high-performing welded joints
• Investigation on Fatigue reliability of large monopiles for offshore wind turbines
• Fatigue crack growth in railway axle
• Review on fatigue of offshore structures
• Failure analysis of fiber-reinforced composite laminates using finite element method
• Crack growth of biomedical polymer-ceramic interpenetrating scaffolds composite
• Investigation on ductile fracture of high strength pipeline steels
• Investigation on human errors on the occurrence of coastal ship accidents
• Analyzing fault and severity in pedestrian–motor vehicle accidents
• Investigation on crash Compatibility of Cars and Light Trucks
• Journal of Accident Analysis & Prevention

A mobile crane toppled when lifting an 40 feet container, resulting in damages amount to several hundred of thousands dollars. UTC was engaged to investigate the accident causes and as expert witness in legal litigation. According to the court record, the Judge accepted our conclusion that the crane toppled was due to defective/malfunctional AML system.

A heavy gate toppled during installation and caused a worker death. UTC was engaged by MOM for accident investigation and as expert witness in this court case. According to Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia's reports, the court ruled that the contractor was fined S$280,000 for fatal gate toppling. The contractor filed appeal, but lost the appeal and punishment was increased from S$280,000 to S$330,000 for fatal gate toppling. UTC had successfully determined the root causes of the accident and testified in the court hearing by providing solid evidences with scientific methodolody.

One crane collapsed in a construction site, which severely damaged the nearby plant facilities and workshop during lifting operation. China Taiping Insurance engaged UTC to investigate the accident and as expert witness in legal suit. We successfully determined the root causes of the accident. Shortly after receiving our report, the case was settled favourably before court hearing.

Part 1, Overview of industrial failure analysis
Introduction
General procedures of industrial failure analysis
Effective failure analysis
Report preparation and assessment on failure analysis investigation
How to select failure analysis service providers

Part 2, Non-destructive examination
Visual examination
Ultrasonic testing
Dye/liquid penetration
Magnetic particle examination
Eddy Current testing
X-ray examination

Part 3, Advanced analytical instruments and applications
Microscopy – microscopic and metallurgical examination
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX)
Chemical element analysis
X-ray diffraction (XRD)
Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR)
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)

Part 4, Failures - characteristics, mechanisms and prevention
Mechanical failures
Fractures - Brittle and ductile fractures
Material embrittlements - hydrogen, liquid metals, tempering
Fatigue – LCF, HCF, corrosion fatigue
Fractography - macro and micro-examination on fracture surfaces
Creep
Wear: abrasive, fretting, contact fatigue, ferrography
Chemical failures
General corrosion, pitting corrosion, intergranular corrosion, crevice corrosion, galvanic corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, selective leaching, erosion corrosion, hydrogen attack
Electrical failures
Current leakage
Short circuit
Open circuit
Arcing
P-N junction breakdown

Part 5, Case Studies of failure analysis
A number of actual failure analysis cases from different industrial sectors including aerospace, marine, transportation, construction, electronics, oil refinery will be analysed and discussed.