How did it fail?

Why did it fail?

How can it be prevented from failing?

A failure analysis that does not answer ALL three of these questions is only telling you what you already know; it failed.

"Answers, not numbers" is the guiding principle of Failure Analysis at Metallurgical Associates. All of our materials failure analysts have worked in manufacturing industries as metallurgists, mechanical engineers and quality control managers before entering the independent materials engineering field. We've been on the receiving end of chemical testing and failure analyses that didn't get the job done. You will not have that experience working with Metallurgical Associates, Inc. Metallurgical Associates, Inc. provides precise identification of the mode and cause of failure, and specific, practical, cost effective, solutions that will prevent future failures.

At Metallurgical Associates, Inc., state of the art instrumentation and techniques meet professional expertise and experience at our Milwaukee, WI materials failure analysis laboratory. The result is comprehensive failure analysis in:

Fractures in metals resulting from fatigue, ductile or brittle overload, hydrogen embrittlement, stress corrosion cracking and other modes in all alloys and applications.

Corrosion Failures resulting in general corrosion, pitting corrosion, crevice corrosion, microbiologically induced corrosion and other modes in all alloys and applications.

Wear Failures resulting from abrasive wear, rolling contact fatigue, adhesive wear, fretting, erosion and cavitation in all alloys and applications.

Casting, Forging and Welding Defects resulting from (in castings) shrink, gas porosity, cold shuts, cold laps, slag and sand inclusions, hot tears, (in forgings) laps, hydrogen flakes, bursts, cracks, (in welds) cracking, porosity, inclusions, lamellar tearing, hydrogen induced cold cracking.

Contaminant Analyses of staining and discoloration resulting in cosmetic rejection of products, deposits resulting in coating or plating adhesion failure, unknown residue and particulate.

Fractures in Polymers resulting from crazing, fatigue, environmental stress cracking, aging, photolytic degradation and crystallinity.