Page 41 - MetalForming June 2015

and almost always outside of their direct control. It is, therefore, critical to investigate the materials and heat- treatment methods used for the failed application. Other processes for assess- ing heattreatment results include sur- face-hardness and toughness testing.
Assess the failure conditions—It often proves beneficial to compare a failed component with one that has not failed in order to asses if a failure occurred due to service conditions or to a manufacturing error.
An example of a manufacturing
error: a highly stressed area in a die
detail that cracks or chips in service
because a radius specified in the corner
of the component was inadvertently
left sharp. An example of a service-
condition failure: A stamper uses a chlorinated stamping lubricant in a die containing tungsten-carbide tooling. The chlorine can attack the cobalt binder, causing the die com- ponent to crack or chip.
assist with these steps to help complete your failure analysis:
• Macroscopic/microscopic exami- nation of fracture surfaces, cracks and other surface anomalies;
• Determination of failure mode(s);
• Testing under simulated service conditions.
Analyze all of the evidence—With all of the data gathered, the investigator must come to a conclusion based on the evidence present. This step can be dif- ficult—when conducting the investiga- tion, some clues may lead the investi- gator down paths that seem to lead to the cause, but instead are merely con- sequences.
Develop a conclusion—The final and most difficult step in any investi- gation is coming up with recommendations. Some cases will be simple while others will not be obvious, even though the cause(s) may be known. Carefully consider and validate
all recommendations. Otherwise, new failures can arise.
MF
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