Material and component failures can have serious consequences, from operational disruption to safety risks and financial loss. A thorough failure analysis is often a key part of identifying the root cause and preventing recurrence.
At R-TECH Group, we conduct over 150 failure investigations each year across metallic and non-metallic materials.
Our vastly experienced team of professional metallurgists and materials scientists can help you conduct a thorough failure analysis investigation on your materials.
Our team includes metallurgists, materials scientists, engineers and chemists with extensive experience across a wide range of materials and components, from electronic systems to large-scale industrial plant.
We provide:
Where additional expertise is needed, we work with specialist partners in areas such as stress analysis, plant life assessment, materials modelling, welding and corrosion.
We assess the failed component, site conditions and available data to establish a clear starting point.
Detailed inspection and testing is carried out, including visual examination, fractography and metallographic analysis.
We interpret results to identify failure mechanisms such as fatigue, corrosion, embrittlement or overload.
Root causes are determined by considering material behaviour, operating conditions and contributing factors.
You receive clear, actionable recommendations to prevent recurrence and improve reliability.
When investigating a failure, the quality of the examination, the interpretation of the results and the ability to communicate the implications of the results for clients are paramount. Because of this, we have built up long-term relationships with our major clients in this area.
We act in partnership with their engineering team, feeding back the results of our work as we progress, and agreeing on how to proceed based on their knowledge of the plant and processes. As a result of this approach, we work with some of the main global petrochemical companies.
We are equally at home dealing with the one-off investigation for clients who just want to determine what has happened to their material. Much of our work is done direct for clients to help them identify failures in their own materials, plant or components. We also get involved in customer complaints, legal claims and prosecutions.
Failure analysis is not just about identifying what went wrong, but understanding the mechanisms behind it and preventing recurrence.
Our investigations routinely assess failure modes such as:
We run these across a wide range of materials, including carbon steels, stainless steels, polymers, composites and high-performance alloys.
Using a combination of laboratory testing, metallography, fractography and materials analysis, we build a complete picture of the failure.
Our multi-disciplined team are uniquely placed to provide analysis services for non-metallic materials. Utilising the variable pressure features of our SEM allows us to inspect non-metallics to X50,000 which can be highly advantageous for polymer and composite failures.
Examples of our work include:
Accurate testing, trusted insight, and practical solutions to help you make confident decisions where materials matter most.
