Failure Analysis

Premature failures of machines and their parts can have different causes. Aside from material defects and geometric deviations, damage due to mistakes during mounting or maintenance, inappropriate lubrication, or overloading while in use must be considered.

As independent experts, we investigate cases from a purely technical standpoint to ensure that the problem is correctly identified and appropriate countermeasures can be taken. To do so, we apply a broad range of advanced engineering methods, including a well-appointed materials laboratory and diverse numerical methods.

When it comes to large or heavy parts an on-site inspection is especially important. By employing endoscopy or measuring the vibrations and operational loads, we can get a fuller understanding of the situation without the involved process of removing components. We have the necessary equipment at both of our locations to ensure a flexible and quick response time worldwide.

Through the variety of cases that we examine on a regular basis, we have experience with gearboxes, motors, pumps, compressors, and many more machines. The associated applications encompass the automotive, rail and agricultural sectors as well as industrial drives and wind energy farms.

Our experts are available out of our German and US branches to support you world-wide. Please feel free to contact us directly if you have any problems. Learn more about our individual services below.

Inspection

The first step in every failure analysis is a visual inspection and is frequently sufficient to diagnose the root cause. Depending upon the size, the damaged item is either shipped to one of our facilities or the inspection is performed on-site and supported by endoscopy. If the source of the problem cannot be definitively determined, we will recommend that a material inspection be performed.

Material Inspection

Material inspections allow for the quantitative assessment of a material’s microstructure to support in failure analysis or to evaluate products during supplier development. Our fully-equipped materials laboratory, located at our facility in Aachen, is capable of evaluating a material’s grain size, impurities and carbide distribution; hardness measurements are also available.

Examples

For over ten years, we have worked in a variety of industries and have encountered failures of all types. These are a few examples of bearing failures due to different damage mechanisms. If you are interested in learning more about these and other failure examples, please consider attending our online seminar on bearing failure analysis.

Calculations

When a part or a machine is defective, it is worth considering if it was designed properly. We can help you evaluate the design by using a variety of advanced engineering techniques such as FEM and software such as the FVA Workbench.