Advancing Analysis for Complex New Alloys

No system is immune to failure, corrosion, or other degradation. Whether it is rapid or gradual, planned or unexpected, there is always the possibility of failure during production, manufacturing, or service. The consequences can range from minor inconvenience to catastrophic loss of lives. Rigorous quality controls, validated production methods and in-service inspection can all reduce the probability of failure, as well as detailed investigation of all failures to establish the root cause and take appropriate corrective future actions.

The largest failures can result from small deviations or deviations during manufacturing - pores, inclusions, cracks, residual stress, or even small inhomogeneities in the microstructure. Failure may also be a result of operation outside of normal service conditions, sudden unexpected events, or part of planned obsolescence.

Microscopy is a key tool in both failure analysis and corrosion assessment, with all of the below techniques and more being used to determine the extent, mechanism, and features of corrosion as well as determine the root cause of failure.

• Light microscopy
• Electron microscopy
• Confocal light microscopy
• EDS
• EBSD
• Raman spectroscopy
• X-ray computed tomography
• X-ray microscopy
• FIB-SEM
  

ZEISS software allows easy correlation between multiple data sets taken on different microscopes, showing all of the features in context and aiding the investigator in building a full and complete understanding of sudden failure or gradual degradation over time.