Institute of Space Technology (IST), following its vision of establishing state of
the art Centers of Excellence which would chart a path across all the academic departments/programs of our institute, has established a Failure Analysis Center (FAC). The FAC will not only provide a place for research to all the faculty and PhD/MS scholars, but will also be a resource for providing solutions of materials related services to local industry and various defense and strategic organizations. This initiative is expected to fill a large void, as services being offered at FAC are currently not available in the country under a single umbrella. Mainly utilizing the available resources at IST, the facility is being organized by forming a small nucleus which would synergize among the departments, where resources and expertise are scattered, to provide one window services for material related problems. It would support a variety of industries by conducting Material Analysis (MA), Failure Analysis (FA), Structural Integrity Assessment (SIA), Fatigue Life Estimation (FLE) and providing Material & Process Advisory Services (MPAS). The facility, while still in its infancy, has already commenced to provide consultancy in the following areas: Failure Analysis of metal parts/components/systems by applying root cause approach with the aim to ensure avoidance of similar recurrences. Provision of advisory, services or both to the desirous manufactures for:
Identifying/selecting metals & processes (including alternative solutions)
essentially required for developing parts/components either afresh or through reverse engineering.
Inspection of raw materials, on site processing of materials (including
heat & surface treatments) and the finished items.
Estimation of the status of parts/components/systems with view to:
Recommend necessary measures for their restoration (if required &
possible).
Determine the remaining safe life period, for their operational usage.
Establish inspection criterion & intervals for parts/components/systems
during their safe life period.
Training of Human Resource:
Through formal programs at IST.
On-site training on need basis.
In order to provide above stated services/advisory FAC has opted to follow
modern trends being practiced worldwide in such fields/domains. This approach suggests that: Only essentially required state-of- the- art facilities be established in house. A strong pragmatic collaborative network comprising of those organizations which already have some authenticated facilities be formed for gaining benefits of their expertise in specific areas and lowering the operational costs. A vibrant advisory board of domain experts (regardless of their geographical locations) be formed for sharing & exchanging experiences
Organizations must remain connected & engaged with international
community of practitioners & regulators of the domain, for remaining abreast with technological & conceptual developments FAC aims to enhance the scope of its advisory/services gradually, in a phased manner, to assist variety of industries in solving materials related problems at national level.