Analyzing Contaminants, Stains and Debris – Part 1
Posted by Rob in Contaminant Analysis on 02. Jul, 2010 | 1 Comment
The impact of contaminants, stains or debris can range from nuisance to root cause of catastrophic failure. The nature of these materials presents some special analytical challenges. First, only extremely small amounts of material are usually present and available for analysis. Second, they typically result from an unintended and therefore undocumented variable in the manufacturing [...]
Biological Corrosion of Metals
Posted by Rob in Corrosion Analysis on 02. Jun, 2010 | 0 Comments
Desulfovibrio vulgaris, a sulfur reducing bacteria, generate hydrogen sulfide as a metabolic bi-product. This species has been implicated in MIC – Microbiologically Induced Corrosion – in iron, steel, stainless steel, aluminum, zinc and copper alloys. The cost of corrosion to the US economy is estimated at 4.2% of the Gross National Product according to a [...]
Fatigue and its Failure Analysis
Posted by Rob in Failure Analysis on 22. Apr, 2010 | 0 Comments
On May 11th, 1842 the first major railroad disaster in history set off a chain of events which led to the discovery of the phenomenon that we now know as fatigue failure. The Paris – Versailles Express, hurtling down the tracks at the then astounding speed of 50 miles per hour, exploded in flames when [...]
