Failure analysis is the process of gathering and analysing data and evidence to determine the causes of faults, generally with the aim of introducing corrective actions, determining responsibilities and assessing existing risks. It is an important discipline in an array of industrial sectors and is a vital tool in developing new products and upgrading existing ones.
Why is it important to know the root causes of failures?
- Knowing how faults originate helps us to understand the mechanisms that cause them to occur, allowing us to solve design, manufacturing and usage/maintenance problems in order to prevent them from recurring.
- This is the basis that enables us to estimate the residual life of other potentially affected components in use, establishing an inspection protocol or even embedding systems that operate to guarantee that damaged elements do not fail.
- Imperfections that cause failure in a single component may have far-reaching security, financial and environmental consequences. On the other hand, certain defects may be innocuous, permitting components to reach the end of their useful life without experiencing faults.
TARGET AUDIENCE
- Persons responsible for the design, manufacture and operation/maintenance of systems and components.
- Reliability and Maintenance Managers.
- Quality Managers in component and metal structure manufacture.
- Technical Offices.
- Component Design Technicians.
- Risk Managers.
LECTURER
- Isabel Aramburu - Materials Engineering Manager, Lab_services Division, TECNALIA.