Analyzing the structure of composite materials is essential for understanding how the part will perform in service. Assessing fiber volume variations, void content, ply orientation variability, and foreign object inclusions helps in preventing degradation of composite performance. This article describes the optical microscopy and bright-field illumination techniques involved in analyzing ply terminations, prepreg plies, splices, and fiber orientation to provide the insight necessary for optimizing composite structure and performance.

This article introduces the principal methodologies and some technologies that are being applied for nondestructive evaluation of composite materials. These include ultrasonic testing (UT), air-coupled UT, laser UT, ultrasonic spectroscopy, leaky lamb wave method, acousto-ultrasonics, radiography, X-ray computed tomography, thermography, low-frequency vibration methods, acoustic emission, eddy current testing, optical holography, and shearography. The article presents some examples are for fiber-reinforced polymer-matrix composites. Many of the techniques have general applicability to other types of composites such as metal-matrix composites and ceramic-matrix composites.

This article describes the failure characteristics of high-pressure long-distance pipelines. It discusses the causes of pipeline failures and the procedures used to investigate them. The use of fracture mechanics in failure investigations and in developing remedial measures is also reviewed.

This article introduces the principal methodologies and some advanced technologies that are being applied for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of fiber-reinforced polymer-matrix composites. These include acoustic emission, ultrasonic, eddy-current, computed tomography, electromagnetic acoustic transducer, radiography, thermography, and low-frequency vibration methods. The article also provides information on NDE methods commonly used for metal-matrix composites.

Adhesive-bonded joints are extensively used in aircraft components and assemblies where structural integrity is critical. This article addresses the problem of how to inspect bonded assemblies so that all discrepancies are identified. It describes several inspection techniques and presents drawbacks and limitations of these techniques. Generic flaw types and flaw-producing mechanisms are listed in a table. The article discusses metal-to-metal defects, adherend defects, honeycomb sandwich defects, repair defects, and in-service defects. It reviews the methods applicable to the inspection of bonded structures, including visual inspection, ultrasonic inspection, X-ray radiography, and neutron radiography. The evaluation and correlation of inspection results are also discussed. The article concludes with information on the effects of ultrasonic wave interference in the ultrasonic inspection of adhesive-bonded joints.

Fractography is the systematic study of fractures and fracture surfaces. It is a useful tool in failure analysis and provides a means for correlating the influence of microstructure on the fracture mode of a given material. This article discusses the preservation, preparation, and photography of fractured parts and surfaces, and describes some of the more common fractographic features revealed by light microscopy, including tensile-fracture surface marks in unnotched specimens, fatigue marks, and structural discontinuities within the metal. The article also explains how to interpret fracture information contained in optical and scanning-electron microscope fractographs.

Fractography is the systematic study of fractures and fracture surfaces. It is a useful tool in failure analysis and provides a means for correlating the influence of microstructure on the fracture mode of a given material. This article discusses the preservation, preparation, and photography of fractured parts and surfaces, and describes some of the more common fractographic features revealed by light microscopy, including tensile-fracture surface marks in unnotched specimens, fatigue marks, and structural discontinuities within the metal. The article also explains how to interpret fracture information contained in optical and scanning-electron microscope fractographs.

Rolling-element bearings use rolling elements interposed between two raceways, and relative motion is permitted by the rotation of these elements. This article presents an overview of bearing materials, bearing-load ratings, and an examination of failed bearings. Rolling-element bearings are designed on the principle of rolling contact rather than sliding contact; frictional effects, although low, are not negligible, and lubrication is essential. The article lists the typical characteristics and causes of several types of failures. It describes failure by wear, failure by fretting, failure by corrosion, failure by plastic flow, failure by rolling-contact fatigue, and failure by damage. The article discusses the effects of fabrication practices, heat treatment and hardness of bearing components, and lubrication of rolling-element bearings with a few examples.

The goal of using nondestructive evaluation (NDE) in conjunction with failure analysis is to obtain the most comprehensive set of data in order to characterize the details of the damage and determine the factors that allowed the damage to occur. The NDE results can be used to determine optimal areas upon which to focus for sectioning and metallography in order to further investigate the condition of the component. This article provides information on the inspection method available for failure analysis, including standard methods such as visual testing, penetrant testing, and magnetic particle testing. It covers the effects of various factors on the properties of the part that may impact failure analysis, describes the characterization of damage modes and crack sizes, and finally discusses the processes involved in application of NDE results to failure analysis.

Radiography is a nondestructive-inspection method that is based on the differential absorption of penetrating radiation by the part or test piece (object) being inspected. This article discusses the fundamentals and general applications of radiography, and describes the sources of radiation in radiographic inspection, including X-rays and gamma rays. It deals with the characteristics that differentiate neutron radiography from X-ray or gamma-ray radiography. The geometric principles of shadow formation, image conversion, variation of attenuation with test-piece thickness, and many other factors that govern the exposure and processing of a neutron radiograph are similar to those for radiography using X-rays or gamma rays.

This article focuses on the modes of operation, physical basis, sample requirements, properties characterized, advantages, and limitations of the characterization methods used to evaluate the physical morphology and chemical properties of component surfaces for medical devices. These methods include light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy.

Radiography is a nondestructive-inspection method that is based on the differential absorption of penetrating radiation by the part or test piece (object) being inspected. This article discusses the fundamentals and general applications of radiography, and describes the sources of radiation in radiographic inspection, including X-rays and gamma rays. It deals with the characteristics that differentiate neutron radiography from X-ray or gamma-ray radiography. The geometric principles of shadow formation, image conversion, variation of attenuation with test-piece thickness, and many other factors that govern the exposure and processing of a neutron radiograph are similar to those for radiography using X-rays or gamma rays.

This article describes the modification and inoculation of cast iron, and schematically illustrates the major effects of inoculation in gray cast irons. Inoculation could be considered as a common liquid-state treatment for all commercial cast irons (gray/compacted/ductile irons), while modification is essential to produce compacted graphite iron (intermediate level) and ductile iron. The article discusses the most important aspects of a gray cast iron inoculation treatment and the factors influencing its inoculation efficiency. It describes the modification and inoculation of ductile cast iron and compacted graphite cast iron.

This article provides non-proprietary and non-competition-sensitive information related to aircraft applications. It presents an overview of reliability and commonly used measurements. Failure modes that cause the negative performance are reviewed based on many types of sources. These include manufacturer service bulletins, reliability and customer service departments, literature reviews, demonstration programs, in-service evaluations, design guides, and surveys of commercial and military aircraft maintenance organizations. The article also describes lessons learned while attempting to avoid overlapping maintainability, reparability, and materials choice.

This article reviews how process variations influence the characteristics of thermal spray coatings. It describes various specimen preparation techniques, which allow accurate microstructural analysis. These techniques include sectioning, cleaning, mounting, planar grinding, fine grinding, rough polishing, and etching. The article provides information on the problems associated with specimen preparation. It concludes with a discussion on the various methods of analysis for thermal spray coatings.

Materials selection is an important engineering function in both the design and failure analysis of components. This article briefly reviews the general aspects of materials selection as a concern in proactive failure prevention during design and as a possible root cause of failed parts. It discusses the overall concept of design and describes the role of the materials engineer in the design and materials selection process. The article highlights the significance of materials selection in both the prevention and analysis of failures.

This article briefly reviews the general causes of weldment failures, which may arise from rejection after inspection or failure to pass mechanical testing as well as loss of function in service. It focuses on the general discontinuities observed in welds, and shows how some imperfections may be tolerable and how the other may be root-cause defects in service failures. The article explains the effects of joint design on weldment integrity. It outlines the origins of failure associated with the inherent discontinuity of welds and the imperfections that might be introduced from arc welding processes. The article also describes failure origins in other welding processes, such as electroslag welds, electrogas welds, flash welds, upset butt welds, flash welds, electron and laser beam weld, and high-frequency induction welds.

Nondestructive testing (NDT), also known as nondestructive evaluation (NDE), includes various techniques to characterize materials without damage. This article focuses on the typical NDE techniques that may be considered when conducting a failure investigation. The article begins with discussion about the concept of the probability of detection (POD), on which the statistical reliability of crack detection is based. The coverage includes the various methods of surface inspection, including visual-examination tools, scanning technology in dimensional metrology, and the common methods of detecting surface discontinuities by magnetic-particle inspection, liquid penetrant inspection, and eddy-current testing. The major NDE methods for internal (volumetric) inspection in failure analysis also are described.