Metallurgical Failure Analysis

There are many ways in which a component or structure may fail. It can be either physical fracture, or functional failure. Either type of the failures can be caused by fatigue, corrosion wear environmental exposure or other mechanisms. Everything is expected to fail over time, but if a failure occurs prematurely, then the major question to be answered is what caused the failure: human error, improper workmanship, negligence, or customer abuse.  

 

The most typical causes of premature failure are: 

 

Material/component related issues 

 

Manufacturing process related issues 

 

Improper handling 

 

Environmental exposure 

  • Metallurgical Failure Analysis
  • Metallurgical Failure Analysis
  • Metallurgical Failure Analysis
  • Metallurgical Failure Analysis
  • Metallurgical Failure Analysis
  • Metallurgical Failure Analysis
  • Metallurgical Failure Analysis
  • Metallurgical Failure Analysis

The following Tests/Analyses are typically involved to establish the root cause of failure: 

 

Visual inspection and X-ray Inspection 

 

Cross-sectioning and parallel lapping 

 

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) 

 

Energy Dispersive X-ray Microanalysis (EDS)  

 

X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) 

 

Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) 

 

Over many years in business, we have seen and successfully established the root cause of literally every possible failure mode for our customers from automotive; telecom; aviation; airspace and other industries. 

What our clients say

  • "SENTEC’s industry knowledge, skills and responsiveness are second to none. It’s been a pleasure working with and learning from SENTEC’s team. When we need skilled micro-sectioning and analyses for electronic parts, SENTEC is our go-to!"

    - Gastops Ltd. Engineering Team

  • "SENTEC has what it takes to get down to the root cause of a problem. We use Science+ENgineering+TEChnology in our business and strongly believe it is the right combination for success."

    - Vladimir Igoshev, Sentec Testing Laboratory Inc.

  • "We have been very happy with the services provided by Sentec. There is excellent knowledge depth for the metallurgical problems associated with electronics manufacturing."

    - Bev Christian, Ph.D

  • "The analysis done by Sentec has been clearly superior to any work done at much larger companies. Their response times is excellent as is their ability to interface with out customers at a very high professional level. It is not uncommon now for your Fortune 100 customers to use SENTEC for other problem solving in lieu of their own internal resources."

    - Steve Kelly, President, PFC Flexible Circuits Limited

  • "The service received from SENTEC has been excellent in terms of responsiveness and technical analysis."

    - Kaspars Friebergs, Director of Quality, EPM Global Services Inc.