1. 1
FAILURE ANALYSIS AND
MATERIALS TESTING
An Introduction

2. Failure Analysis
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Task: To investigate the different types of failures
Objective: To understand the cause(s) of failure
Significance: To take measures that can prevent them in the future

3. Definition
Failure Analysis is an investigation carried out to determine
the cause of failure of a certain product or equivalently the
mistake in the continuous process of engineering design-
manufacturing-performance in order to prevent its
recurrence in the future.

4. Failure Analysis
 Procedure involves a series of examinations to reveal:
-Quality of the material
-Quality of the fabrication process
-Possible abuse during service

5. Failure Analysis is Designed to:
1. Identify the Failures Modes
- the way the product failed
2. Identify the Failure Site
- where in the product failure occurred
3. Identify the Failure Mechanism
- the physical phenomena involved in the
failure

6. Failure Analysis is Designed to:
4. Determine the Root Cause
- the trigger point which led to failure
5. Recommend Failure Prevention Methods
- corrective action or improvement

7. Failure Analysis
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DRIVE customer returns to
Manufacturing/ FA zero, INCREASE quantity
Fails/Rejects Results
Production and quality, ACCELERATE
new product introductions
Tools and Techniques
Aid in analyses of rejects
Understand root cause(s) of failure

8. Engineering Products and their Performance
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Main Stages in the
History of an
Engineering Design
Engineering Product
Manufacturing
(Commercial Product)
Service Conditions
(Performance)

9. Engineering Products and their Performance
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Almost every design and useful application devised by the engineer is dictated by the
quality of materials used in manufacturing, which limits the performance capabilities of
the product.

10. Engineering Design-Fabrication-
Performance
Schematic illustration of the
continuity and main steps of the
process of engineering design–
manufacturing–performance

11. Engineering Design-
Fabrication-Performance
Lifetime of a given product can vary significantly depending
upon variables such as:
(i) the extent of analysis and experimental development
involved in the various stages of design
(ii) the quality of materials used to manufacture the product
(iii) manufacturing technology
(iv) exact knowledge of service conditions

12. Materials Selection
.
Materials Selection is governed:
(i) properties relevant to the application
(ii) manufacturing constraints
(iii) effect of manufacturing procedures on properties
(iv) prior incidents of failure
(v) maintenance and repair frequency
(vi) cost

13. Property Evaluation
It is possible to evaluate the properties of a failed component by
two main types of tests:
(i) nondestructive
(ii) destructive.
Nondestructive tests do not degrade the integrity of the component
being tested and primarily carried out to detect flaws and control
dimensions.
Destructive tests are used to determine certain properties, which
are mostly of mechanical nature, such as tensile strength, creep
strength, and fatigue strength.

14. FA TECHNIQUES
 Non-destructive FA Techniques
optical microscopy (external or internal visual inspection)
x-ray radiography (internal x-ray imaging)
curve tracing (current-voltage characterization)
SAM (detection of delamination)
Liquid dye penetrant (detecting cracks at the surface)
Magnetic particle inspection (surface flaws in magnetic
materials)
Ultrasonic inspection (flaw detection and thickness
measurement)

15. FA TECHNIQUES
 Destructive FA techniques
decapsulation (opening of the IC package)
sectioning (cross-sectioning of the sample)
SEM/TEM (high magnification real-time imaging)
EDX/WDX (uses x-ray for elemental analysis)
mechanical testing (hardness and mechanical testing)
Auger analysis (surface analysis)

16. Quiz #1
1. What are the three stages of the history of an
engineering product?
2. Give 3 examples of non-destructive FA
techniques.
3. Give 3 examples of destructive FA techniques.
4. Failure analysis is sometimes called __________.

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 THE End.