Common Causes of Failure

Misuse or Abuse

Assembly errors

Manufacturing defects

Improper maintenance

Fastener failure

Design errors

Improper material

Improper heat treatments

Unforeseen operating conditions

Inadequate quality assurance

Inadequate environmental protection/control

Casting discontinuities

Preventing Fatigue Failure

The most effective method of improving fatigue performance is
improvements in design:

Eliminate or reduce stress raisers by streamlining the part

Avoid sharp surface tears resulting from punching, stamping,

shearing, or other processes

Prevent the development of surface discontinuities during

processing.

Reduce or eliminate tensile residual stresses caused by

manufacturing.

Improve the details of fabrication and fastening procedures

Fatigue Failure Analysis

Metal fatigue is a significant problem because it can occur due to
repeated loads below the static yield strength. This can result in an
unexpected and catastrophic failure in use.
Because most engineering materials contain discontinuities most metal
fatigue cracks initiate from discontinuities in highly stressed regions of the
component. The failure may be due the discontinuity, design, improper
maintenance or other causes. A failure analysis can determine the cause of
the failure.

Fastener Failure
The primary function of a fastener is to transfer load. There are many types
of fasteners. Examples of some requirements for fasteners are listed below:

Higher strength

Increased high temperature dependability

Increased low temperature dependability

Reduced cost

Easier maintenance

Improved corrosion resistance

The choice of a fastener is dependent on the design requirements and

environment in which the fastener will be used. Attention to various aspects
of the fastener must be considered. Some of these are listed below:

Function of the fastener

Operating environment of the fastener

Type of loading on the fastener in service

Thickness of materials to be joined

Type of materials to be joined

Configuration of the joint to be fastened

An analysis of these requirements is necessary before a suitable fastener can

be chosen. The choice of the correct fastener may simply entail fulfilling a
requirement for strength (static or fatigue) or for corrosion
resistance. Conversely, the choice may be constrained by a complex set of
requirements. The scope and complexity of the fastener system required is
frequently determined by the consequences of fastener failure.
One method of guarding against failure of a new fastener in a critical
application is to sufficiently test the fastener system prior to use. A designer
must be careful when extrapolate existing data to an increased size of the
same fastener, because larger-diameter fasteners can have considerably
lower fatigue endurance limits than smaller-diameter fasteners.

Mechanical Fasteners
Mechanical fasteners are frequently grouped as listed below:

Pin fasteners

Threaded fasteners

Rivets

Blind fasteners

Special purpose fasteners

Fasteners for composites

Rivets, pin fasteners, and special-purpose fasteners are usually designed

for permanent or semipermanent installation.
Pin fasteners are fasteners are used in joints in which the load is primarily
shear. Pins can be either solid or tubular. A collar is sometimes swaged or
formed on the pin to secure the joint.
Threaded fasteners are commonly thought of as any threaded part that,
after joint assembly, may be removed without damage to the fastener or to
the members being joined.
Rivets are permanent one piece fasteners one end of the rivet is
mechanically upset during installation.
Blind fasteners are commonly multiple part devices that can be installed
in a joint that is accessible from only one side. Typically a self-contained
mechanism, an explosive, or other device forms an upset on the inaccessible
side when a blind fastener is installed.
Special-purpose fasteners are often proprietary, such as retaining rings,
latches, slotted springs, and studs. These fasteners are frequently designed
to allow easy, quick removal and replacement and commonly show little or
no deterioration with repeated use.
Mechanical fasteners for composites are often used in combination with
adhesive bonding to increase the reliability of highly stressed joints. The
common pins, bolts, rivets, and blind fasteners are used with
composites. However, the numerous problems that have occurred have
motivated the development and testing of many special purpose fasteners.

Some of the problems with fasteners for composites are listed below:

Pullout of the fastener under load

Drilling damage to the composite

Installation damage to the composite

Delamination of the composite material near the hole

Differences in expansion coefficients between the composite and the

fastener

Galvanic corrosion between the composite and the fastener

Fuel leaks around the fastener

Fretting

ASTM and SAE specifications covering threaded fasteners require that the
heads be marked for grade identification. Grade markings are a safety
feature that provides a means to verify the selection, and use of a fastener
and allows for inspection for the proper use of the fastener. The markings
diminish the likelihood of selecting and using a fastener of insufficient
strength. Incorrect fasteners have the potential to lead to a failure and
cause damage to equipment or injury of personnel.

Causes of Fastener Failures

Some causes of fastener failure are listed below:

Shear

Overload

Fatigue

Corrosion

Manufacturing discrepancies

Improper installation

Fastener Failure Analysis

A fastener may experience either static loading or fatigue loading. Static
loading may be tension, shear, bending, or torsion. These static loading
conditions may occur in combination. One example of fatigue loading is
vibration. In addition to overload and fatigue, some other common reasons
for fastener failures include environmental issues, manufacturing
discrepancies, and improper use or incorrect installation.
Some common questions concerning fasteners are listed below:

How were the fasteners torqued?

In what order were fasteners tightened?

What is the best way to verify the torque on fasteners?

How does torque value vary over time?

Fatigue is one of the most common failure modes for threaded fasteners.
Fretting failures may result from small movements between adjacent
surfaces. Additionally, atmospheric corrosion, liquid immersion corrosion,
galvanic corrosion, crevice corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, and hydrogen
damage may contribute to fastener failure
Material selection, heat treatment, cutting or rolling threads, manufacturing,
assembly, and design are some of the factors that effect fastener failures.
Failure analysis can determine the cause of the fastener failure and
determine the primary or contributing causes of fastener failure.

High Temperature Failure Analysis

Creep occurs under load at high temperature. Boilers, gas turbine
engines, and ovens are some of the systems that have components that
experience creep. An understanding of high temperature materials behavior
is beneficial in evaluating failures in these types of systems.
Failures involving creep are usually easy to identify due to the
deformation that occurs. Failures may appear ductile or brittle. Cracking
may be either transgranular or intergranular. While creep testing is done at
constant temperature and constant load actual components may experience
damage at various temperatures and loading conditions.

Creep of Metals
High temperature progressive deformation of a material at constant
stress is called creep. High temperature is a relative term that is dependent
on the materials being evaluated. A typical creep curve is shown below:

In a creep
test a constant load is applied to a tensile specimen maintained at a
constant temperature. Strain is then measured over a period of time. The
slope of the curve, identified in the above figure, is the strain rate of the test
during stage II or the creep rate of the material.
Primary creep, Stage I, is a period of decreasing creep rate. Primary creep is
a period of primarily transient creep. During this period deformation takes

place and the resistance to creep increases until stage II. Secondary creep,
Stage II, is a period of roughly constant creep rate. Stage II is referred to as
steady state creep. Tertiary creep, Stage III, occurs when there is a reduction
in cross sectional area due to necking or effective reduction in area due to
internal void formation.

Stress Rupture
Stress rupture testing is similar to creep testing except that the stresses
used are higher than in a creep test. Stress rupture testing is always done
until failure of the material. In creep testing the main goal is to determine
the minimum creep rate in stage II. Once a designer knows the materials will
creep and has accounted for this deformation a primary goal is to avoid
failure of the component.

Stress rupture tests are used to determine the time to cause failure.
Data is plotted log-log as in the chart above. A straight line is usually
obtained at each temperature. This information can then be used to
extrapolate time to failure for longer times. Changes in slope of the stress
rupture line are due to structural changes in the material. It is significant to
be aware of these changes in material behavior, because they could result in
large errors when extrapolating the data.

Failure Analysis
High temperature failures are a significant problem. A failure analysis
can identify the root cause of your failure to prevent reoccurrence. AMC can
provide failure analysis of high temperature failures to identify the root cause
of your component failure.

Hydrogen Embrittlement
When tensile stresses are applied to hydrogen embrittled component it may
fail prematurely. Hydrogen embrittlement failures are frequently unexpected
and sometimes catastrophic. An externally applied load is not required as
the tensile stresses may be due to residual stresses in the material. The
threshold stresses to cause cracking are commonly below the yield stress of
the material.

High strength steel, such as quenched and tempered steels or precipitation

hardened steels are particularly susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement.
Hydrogen can be introduced into the material in service or during materials
processing.

Hydrogen Embrittlement Failures

Tensile stresses, susceptible material, and the presence of hydrogen
are necessary to cause hydrogen embrittlement. Residual stresses or
externally applied loads resulting in stresses significantly below yield
stresses can cause cracking. Thus, catastrophic failure can occur without
significant deformation or obvious deterioration of the component.
Very small amounts of hydrogen can cause hydrogen embrittlement in high
strength steels. Common causes of hydrogen embrittlement are pickling,
electroplating and welding, however hydrogen embrittlement is not limited
to these processes.
Hydrogen embrittlement is an insidious type of failure as it can occur without
an externally applied load or at loads significantly below yield stress. While
high strength steels are the most common case of hydrogen embrittlement
all materials are susceptible.

Liquid Metal Embrittlement

Liquid metal embrittlement is the decrease in ductility of a metal caused by
contact with liquid metal. The decrease in ductility can result in catastrophic
brittle failure of a normally ductile material. Very small amounts of liquid
metal are sufficient to result in embrittlement.
Some events that may permit liquid metal embrittlement under the
appropriate circumstances are listed below:

Brazing

Soldering

Welding

Heat treatment

Hot working

Elevated temperature service

In addition to an event that will allow liquid metal embrittlement to occur, it

is also required to have the component in contact with a liquid metal that will
embrittle the component.

Liquid Metal Embrittlement Failures

The liquid metal can not only reduce the ductility but significantly reduce
tensile strength. Liquid metal embrittlement is an insidious type of failure as
it can occur at loads below yield stress. Thus, catastrophic failure can occur
without significant deformation or obvious deterioration of the component.
Intergranular or transgranular cleavage fracture are the common fracture
modes associated with liquid metal embrittlement. However reduction in
mechanical properties due to decohesion can occur. This results in a ductile
fracture mode occurring at reduced tensile strength. An appropriate analysis
can determine the effect of liquid metal embrittlement on failure.

Stress Concentration

The image at the right shows the concept of stress concentration at

the root of the notch on the left. The image on the right shows a uniform
stress field represented as imaginary uniform stress lines that concentrate in
intensity at the root of the notch. Stress concentrations may permit failure
modes to occur more quickly in fatigue, stress corrosion cracking, creep, etc.

Residual Stresses
Residual stresses can be sufficient to cause a metal part to suddenly
split into two or more pieces after it has been resting on a table or floor
without external load being applied. While this is not a common occurrence,
experienced people in the metal working industry have witnessed this
phenomenon. While there may be additional factors causing this to occur
residual stresses help explain these occurrences.
Residual stresses are stresses that are inside or locked into a
component or assembly of parts. The internal state of stress is caused by
thermal and/or mechanical processing of the parts. Common examples of
these are bending, rolling or forging a part. Another example are the
thermal stresses induced when welding.
Residual stresses can play a significant role in explaining or preventing
failure of a component at times. One example of residual stresses
preventing failure is the shot peening of component to induce surface
compressive stresses that improve the fatigue life of the component.
Unfortunately, there are also processes or processing errors that can induce

excessive tensile residual stresses in locations that might promote failure of

a component.
It must be kept in mind that the internal stresses are balanced in a
component. Tensile residual stresses are counter balanced by compressive
residual stresses. To better visualize residual stresses it is sometimes helpful
to picture tension and compression springs to represent tensile and
compressive residual stresses. While this is an aid to understanding, it must
be kept in mind that residual stresses are three-dimensional.
Residual stresses can result in visible distortion of a component. The
distortion can be useful in estimating the magnitude or direction of the
residual stresses.
Thermal residual stresses are primarily due to differential expansion
when a metal is heated or cooled. The two factors that control this are
thermal treatment (heating or cooling) and restraint. Both the thermal
treatment and restraint of the component must be present to generate
residual stresses.
A good common example of mechanically applied residual stresses is a
bicycle wheel. A bicycle wheel is a very light and strong because of the way
in which the components are stressed. The wire spokes are aligned radialy
and tightening the spokes creates tensile radial stresses. The spokes pull the
rim inward, creating circumferential compression stresses in the rim.
Conversely, the spokes pull the tubular hub outward. If the thin spokes were
not under a proper tensile preload load the thin wire spokes could not
adequately support the load of the rider.

Failure Analysis Methods, Tools and Services

Failure analysis is the process of collecting and analyzing data to
determine the cause of a failure and how to prevent it from recurring.
It is an important discipline in many branches of manufacturing industry,
such as the electronics industry, where it is a vital tool used in the
development of new products and for the improvement of existing products.
It is especially important in manufacturing and field use of safety-critical
and mission-critical equipment.
Failure analysis may be applied to both products and processes.

Failure analysis may be conducted on the design stage and on field use stage
of the product life cycle.
There are several different failure analysis methods and tools:
Failure Data Collection
Failure analysis of safety-critical and mission-critical equipment on the field
use stage requires failure data collection and statistical analysis.
To accomplish this goal special software system called FRACAS (Failure
Reporting, Analysis and Corrective Actions System) should be used.
Collected data are subject to statistical analysis. Such system also gives realtime added value for the organization and acts like fleet management
system, safety management system, workflow system with alerts and
escalation and more
FMECA
Hardware FMEA and FMECA (Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality
Analysis) is a continuation of system reliability analysis. It is required and
compatible with MIL-STD-1629A and other standards (like GJB 1391, GJB
1392, AIR FORCE SMC REGULATION 800-31 and more). Many standards and
regulations for aerospace, defence, telecommunications, electronic and other
industries require that FMECA analysis must be performed for all
designed/manufactured/acquisition systems, especially if they are mission or
safety critical.
FMECA includes failure analysis, criticality analysis and testability analysis. It
analyzes different failure modes and their effects on the system, classifies
and prioritizes end effects level of importance based on failure rate and
severity of the effect of failure.
FMEA
Potential FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) is analytical
technique utilized as a mean to assure that, to the extent possible, potential
failure modes and their associated causes/mechanisms have been
considered and addressed. Corrective actions are suggested and selected for
implementation and control plan is formed as part of the procedure.
Potential Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) complies with AIAG, QS9000, SAE J 1739, IEC 60812, JEP131 and other standards, sometimes called
"automotive" or "AIAG" (Automotive Industry Action Group) FMEA. It is
required by many other standards like ISO 14971 (Medical devices risk
management) and more

Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)

Fault Trees are one of the most widely used methods in system reliability and
failure probability analysis. A Fault Tree is a graphical representation of
events in a hierarchical, tree-like structure. It is used to determine various
combinations of hardware, software, and human error failures that could
result in a specified risk or system failure. System failures are often referred
to as top events. A deductive analysis using a Fault Tree begins with a
general conclusion or hazard, which is displayed at the top of a hierarchical
tree. This deductive analysis is the final event in a sequence of events for
which the Fault Tree is used to determine if a failure will occur or,
alternatively, can be used to stop the failure from occurring.
Fault Trees investigate consequences of multiple simultaneous failures or
events, and here its main advantage over FMEA/FMECA, which investigate
single-pint failures.
Event Tree Analysis (ETA)
It is an inductive failure analysis performed to determine the consequences
of single failure for the overall system risk or reliability. Event Tree
Analysis uses similar logic and mathematics as Fault Tree Analysis, but the
approach is different - FTA uses deductive approach (from system failure to
its reasons) and ETA uses the inductive approach (from basic failure to its
consequences).
An event tree itself is a visual representation of single failure sequences, it's
influence on other events and on the whole system