INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

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VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9(2), SEPTEMBER 2014

ANALYTICAL STUDY OF GENERAL FAILURE IN

PROMINENT COMPONENTS

I.

Balaji V.R
Under Graduate Student
SSN College of Engineering
Kalavakkan,Tamilnadu,India

Amitesh Jain
Under Graduate Student
SSN College of Engineering
Kalavakkan,Tamilnadu,India

A.Kirthivasan
Under Graduate Student
SSN College of Engineering
Kalavakkan,Tamilnadu,India

D.Ananthapadmanaban
Associate Professor
Dept. of Mechanical Engg.
SSN College of Engineering,
Kalavakkam, Tamilnadu, India

Introduction

The defects in quality, design, process or part application are the

underlying cause of a failure. The human errors are considered, when
failure depends on the user of the product or process. The failure
analysis includes the area of creep, fatigue, structural resonance, crack
initiation, crack propagation, spalling and pitting, fretting and wear,
component failure. The components are subjected to failure analysis
before and after manufacturing. Even though the various tests are
conducted, failure happens at one stage.
The mechanism of failure can be attributed to multiple factors which
simultaneously plays an influential role. These include corrosion,
abnormal electric current welding of contacts, returns spring fatigue
failure, unintended failure, dust accumulation and blockage of
mechanism, etc.
The strategy for safety is to make various test before the product
comes into the usage. The investigation of failure is vividly illustrated
in the pioneering efforts of the consideration of physical evidence and
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the use of engineering and scientific principles and analytical tools.

Often, the reason why one performs a failure analysis is to
characterize the causes of failure with the overall objective to avoid
repetition of similar failures. However, analysis of the physical
evidence alone may not be adequate to reach this goal. The scope of a
failure analysis can, but does not necessarily, lead to a correctable root
cause of failure. Many times, a failure analysis incorrectly ends at the
identification of the failure mechanism.
A material or component shows gradual deformation or creep when
subjected to sustained loading especially at elevated temperatures. It
occurs even if the applied stresses are below the proportional limit. It
occurs in both metals and non-metals.
Similarly when a component is subjected repeated continuous load, it
tends to gradually deteriorate resulting in fatigue failure. Fatigue
occurs in three stages namely crack initiation, crack propagation and
unstable rapid growth.
Fatigue failure may also occur due propagation of the cracks
originating from the surface of the component. They are of two types
namely spalling and pitting. It occurs due to sub surface tensile and
shear stresses that exceed materials fatigue limits. Gears and bearings
are usually subjected to such stresses. When surfaces of two
components mate each other they are subjected to normal pressure and
tangential oscillatory motion fretting failure occurs. The surface
undergoes failure due to fatigue, high normal forces or wear and failure
can be accelerated in the presence of chemical attack.
II.

Failure analysis-History and Inception

The importance and value of failure analysis to safety, reliability,

performance, and economy are well documented.

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For example, the importance of investigating failures is vividly

illustrated in the pioneering efforts of the Wright Brothers in
developing self-propelled flight. In fact, while Wilbur was traveling in
France in 1908, Orville was conducting flight tests for the U.S. Army
Signal Corps and was injured when his Wright Flyer crashed (Fig. 1).
His passenger sustained fatal injuries [1]. Upon receiving word of the
mishap, Wilbur immediately ordered the delivery of the failed flyer to
France so that he could conduct a thorough investigation. This was
decades before the formal discipline called failure analysis was
introduced.
Unfortunately, there are many dramatic examples of catastrophic
failures that result in injury, loss of life, and damage to property. For
example, a molasses tank failed in Boston in 1919, and another
molasses tank failed in Bellview, NJ, in 1973 [2]. Were the causes
identified in 1919? Were lessons learned as a result of the accident?
Were corrective actions developed and implemented to prevent
recurrence?

Fig.1 Crash of the Wright Flyer, 1908. Courtesy of the National Air and
Space Museum,Smithsonian Institution Photo A-42555-A[1]
Conversely, failures can also lead to improvements in engineering
practices. The spectacular failures of the Liberty ships during World
War II were studied extensively in subsequent decades, and the
outcome of these efforts was a significantly more thorough

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understanding of the phenomenon of fracture, culminating in part with

the development of the engineering discipline of fracture mechanics [3].
Through these and other efforts, insights into the cause and prevention
of failures continue to evolve.
Space shuttle, Columbia orbitter failed upon its re-entry
into the earths atmosphere. Earlier it was believed that failure was
caused by foam piece which got dislodged from external tank during
takeoff and struck the leading edge of the left wing. This damaged the
latter made of carbon-carbon composites thereby providing a breach in
the shuttle leading to catastrophic failure [4].
The foam tiles on analysis show signs of erosion due to high
temperatures exceeding 2000K during re-entry which is sufficient
enough to melt aluminium. Hence it is quite apparent that Aluminium
Sandwich Panel Skins below the tiles were protected during re-entry.
Hence an analysis was carried out on the Aluminium Sandwich Panel
Skin recovered from the debris field. They were 0.6mm thick sheets
made up of 2000-series Aluminium alloy.
A micrograph of sample taken few millimetres behind fracture
surface reveals that it was subjected to much higher temperatures than
area directly beneath the tile. From these images it is clear that second
phase particles present in the microstructure composed of copper,
manganese and iron melted and subsequently wetted the grain
boundaries upon exposure to high temperature causing significant
weakening of grain boundaries, ultimately resulting in intergranular
failure.

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Fig.2 Light optical microscopy micrograph of panel skin section at

fracture surface. Notice that liquation isobserved across entire
micrograph. A crack along a grain boundary is also present. [4]
The Sandwich Panel was locally heated to cause liquation only near
the fracture surface whereas aluminium microstructure directly
beneath an insulating tile shows no sign of liquation. This lead to
formation of local hotspots where there was no thermal protection due
to loss of insulation resulting from the accident. These localised
hotspots lead to the failure of the aluminium sandwich panel and hence
failure of the space shuttle.
III.

Recent trends and advancements

Modern automobiles increasingly utilize high-strength low-weight

alloys for better fuel efficiency. Aluminium alloys seem to serve the
purpose owing to its high strength to weight ratio. Several major
automobile components such as engine blocks, pistons, intake manifold,
carburettors and brake parts make use of aluminium castings. Since
aluminium alloys such as Al-356 is extensively used, a study to realize
the reason for their mechanical failure is necessary.
S. Nasrazadani and L. Reyes investigated a clutch pedal lever made of
permanent mould cast Al 356-T6 aluminium by way of metallography,
SEM, hardness testing and visual inspection [5]. They concluded that the
parts in clutch assembly must be designed with thicker sections to
resist the applied stress. Fatigue and brittle failure occurs due to
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presence of dendrite phases and micro-porosity and it can be avoided by

production of heat treated Al 356-T6.

Fig. 3 Image of the fractured part showing two visible cracks[5]

Y. Huang and Y. Zhu[6] metallurgically examined the section of a
fractured spindle from an axle housing of a truck. It was found that
after about 8,000 miles of service the axle fractured at the friction weld
interface. Metallographic and SEM examinations at the fractured site
revealed the existence of micro-porosity and formation of ferrite layer.
This had reduced the impact strength of the weld resulting in overload
fracture. Due to air exposure at the molten layer interface, a band of
oxides was formed and the solidification of liquid film leads to microshrinkage.

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Fig. 5 The assembly fractured along the weld interface (a ferrite band
with oxides), etched, 2% natal[6]
A lap welded steel joint had failed when it was operated under very
high speeds[7]. This joint was fabricated by a laser beam welding using
high energy coherent optical source of heat at low pressure. The steel
sheets used for this purpose was 0.5 mm thick. The components of the
debris was put into failure analysis for metallurgical investigation. The
sheet and plate used to form this joint were analysed for their chemical
composition.

Fig.4 Oxidation product visible at the grain boundary (arrows) with

other oxidized grain boundaries (encircled) [7]
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The results showed that both were made of the same steel grade
X2NiCoMo18-8-5. The samples were cut from both defected and nondefected regions and were analysed using optical microscopy. From the
analysis it was observed that welding bead had serious problems due to
the oxidation of the plate. The surface of metal plate was deposited by
oxidation products due to under machining of the plate, before welding.
Hence during welding, the oxidation products get entrapped within
weld bead or may appear on the surface of the weld. This weakens the
weld thereby causing failure.
IV.

Root-Cause Analysis

Failure analysis is considered to be the examination of the

characteristics and causes of equipment or component failure[8]. In most
cases this involves the consideration of physical evidence and the use of
engineering and scientific principles and analytical tools. Often, the
reason why one performs a failure analysis is to characterize the causes
of failure with the overall objective to avoid repeat of similar failures.
However, analysis of the physical evidence alone may not be adequate
to reach this goal. The scope of a failure analysis can, but does not
necessarily, lead to a correctable root cause of failure. Many times, a
failure analysis incorrectly ends at the identification of the failure
mechanism and perhaps causal influences. The principles of root-cause
analysis (RCA) may be applied to ensure that the root cause is
understood and appropriate corrective actions may be identified. An
RCA exercise may simply be a momentary mental exercise or an
extensive logistical charting analysis.
Many volumes have been written on the process and methods of RCA.
The concept of RCA does not apply to failures alone, but is applied in
response to an undesirable event or condition (Fig. 4). Root-cause
analysis is intended to identify the fundamental cause(s) that if
corrected will prevent recurrence.
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Fig. 6 Root-cause analogy [8]

V.

Recent Case History

Building in Chennai under construction crashed recently (2014) when

there was rain for about 1 or 2 hours. Most probably the soil itself must
have been loose around that area, Chennai being home to clayey soil[9].
Another reason could be-lack of proper curing of foundation. In earlier
days, foundations used to be cured for close to 3 weeks. These days, it is
not certain whether proper procedures are followed. Most often, there
is a combination of factors involved each of which contributes to the
ultimate failure. So, it is suggested that at each stage, mandatory
checks be followed so that even if a structure fails, one can exactly
pinpoint what went wrong and at which stage it went wrong.

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Fig.7 The Hindu 11 floor building collapse at Bai kadai junction

Moulivakkam,near Porur on Sunday.in Chennai-TN.India[9]
VI. Conclusions
Various procedures followed during failure analysis have been
documented in this paper. Root cause analysis has been discussed.
Starting from the history of failure analysis some case studies have
been presented. It can be concluded that failure analysis is a very vast
field of research and any analysis can give the possible cause of failure
only.Sometimes there may be a a combination of factors for a material
or component to fail.
References
1. P.L. Jakab, Visions of a Flying Machine: The Wright Brothers and
the Process of Invention, Smithsonian Institution, 1990, p 226
2. R.W. Hertzberg, Deformation and Fracture Mechanics
Engineering Materials, John Wiley & Sons, 1976, p 229230

of

3. D.J. Wulpi, Understanding How Components Fail, 2nd ed., ASM

International, 1999
4. Metals Handbook,American Society of Metals,Volume 5,Failure
Analysis and prevention.
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5. S. Nasrazadani L. Reyes ,Failure Analysis of Al 356-T6 Clutch

Lever, Failure Analysis of Al 356-T6 Clutch Lever
6. Y. Huang and Y. Zhu, Failure Analysis of Friction Weld (FRW) in
Truck Axle Application, Submitted: 17 September 2007 / in revised
form: 16 November 2007 / Published online: 20 December 2007_
ASM International 2007
7. A. Nusair Khan W. Mohammad I. Salam..: Failure Analysis of
Laser Weld Joint of X2NiCoMo18-8-5 Steel.
8.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_cause_analysis

9. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/ap-cm-announcesexgratia-for-telugu-victims-in-chennai-buildingcollapse/article6159984.ece

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