FAILURE ANALYSIS • INVESTIGATION TO ROOT CAUSE • DAMAGE MECHANISM

Improve procedures and carry out maintenance preventing further damage and injuries

In every industry extensive effort are deployed to prevent/minimize incidents caused my material failure. After such an incident, determining the root cause is not only important for the issue of legal liability. It also enables manufacturers, owners and operators to improve their procedures and carry out maintenance preventing further damage and injuries.

Our failure analysis services are used by steel manufacturers and distributors, insurance companies, engineering companies, heavy industries, petroleum industries and government bodies.

In most cases, failure of a component occurs due to multiple event that makes the failure investigation a tough-nut to crack.

Our agile team of highly skilled and experienced metallurgist carry out failure investigation. Their work is multidisciplinary investigation which combines specific tests from mechanical, metallurgical and chemical testing, depending on the type of product and failure mode. If necessary, our in-house NDT competences are also used to create complete picture of what caused the material failure.

The final reports provide details of investigation, causes of failure and remedial actions/recommendations.

• POTENTIAL CAUSES OF A COMPONENT FAILURE INCLUDE
  – Product design
  – Material Selection
  – Manufacturing processes
  – Inherent Defects
  – Application Anomaly
  – Installation Anomaly
  – Environmental Impact
• STAGE 1: DATA AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION COLLECTION
  – Steps of the manufacturing process
  – Types of all components in the system
  – Application of component in the system
  – Different ways the component could fail
  – Severity of impact of the potential failures
  – Location and period of failure in device’s function
  – Service life of failed component
  – History of the failed unit
  – Occurrence of failures
• STAGE 2: CONDUCT SPECIFIC TEST
  – Visual Examination
  – X-Ray Radiography & other NDT Techniques
  – Stereo Microscopic
  – Metallurgical Microscopy
  – Mechanical Test
  – Scanning Electron Microscopy
  – EDS Analysis
  – Chemical Analysis
  – Mechanical Test
• STAGE 3: ANALYZE TO DETERMINE ROOT CAUSE
  – Correlate back ground information
  – Correlate collected data for the failed component
  – Correlate conducted test results

Determining the root cause is the reason for failure analysis, and the component owner point of interest. It is crucial to correlate back ground information or collected data for the failed component with the specific conducted test results. Root cause of failures is rarely a single source, rather it is combination of many causes from material, design, application, maintenance etc.

Our expert failure analyst creates a cumulative depiction of failure through the correlation of data and tests and identify the source, type and root cause of failure.

INDUSTRIES WE PROVIDE SERVICES

• Oil and Gas Refineries
• Oil and Gas Platforms
• Storage Tank Farms
• Power Plant
• Chemical and Fertilizer
• Pharmaceuticals

ASSETS FROM WHICH WE RECEIVE COMPONENTS FOR FAILURE ANALYSIS

• Tanks, Pressure Vessels, Piping Systems
• Chillers, Heat Exchangers
• Distillation Columns
• Water Treatment Equipment
• Pumps, Evaporators
• Jacketed Vessels or Reactors
• Separators, Air-Receivers, De-Salters
• And many other assets from Refineries, Platforms, Tanks Farms, Power Plants, Pharmaceuticals, Chemical and Fertilizer industries.

METHODOLOGY:

• Collection of Background Information
• Collection of material data, inspection data and others
• Traditional and Advanced NDT
• Metallurgical Evaluation
• Material Characterization
• Mechanical Testing
• Chemical Testing
• Analysis of Test Results
• Correlation of Test Results with background information

THAT’S HOW WE DO

• Data and Background Information Collection – Although all sages during failure investigation are crucial, the first step which involved data collection is generally more crucial. Correct and package of available information provide failure analyst a basis to envision failure sequence and correlate it with conducted tests.
• Conduct Specific Test – During this stage, we conduct tests on the components being analyzed. It is common to test a representative sample of failed devices as well as those that are intact and working properly. This can help to determine what components are failing and when the failure occurs. Whenever possible, we utilize non-destructive tests at the beginning of failure analysis testing. This tends to provide the indication of failure growth in the component and then continue with the destructive tests.
• Analyze Background Information and Conducted Tests to determine Root Cause – Determining the root cause is the reason for failure analysis, and the component owner point of interest. It is crucial to correlate back ground information or collected data for the failed component with the specific conducted test results. Root cause of failures is rarely a single source, rather it is combination of many causes from material, design, application, maintenance etc.

Our expert failure analyst creates a cumulative depiction of failure through the correlation of data and tests and identify the source, type and root cause of failure.